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Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

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Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#81

Post by ravenstine »

bnchrch wrote: post #79

Oooh this is fun! Ok quick list * Class Inheritance is an anti-pattern. * Python is an anti-pattern. * The 80/20 of functional programming is use pure functions and acknowledge that everything is a list or an operation on a list. * Javascript/Typescript will continue to win. * Erlang/Elixir/BEAM is the better timeline. But unfortunately we're not on it. * Microservices are a luxury and most people should just vertica…

We think alike in many ways! I'd like to respond to some of your points.

> * Class Inheritance is an anti-pattern.

Just say no to classes. Period.

> * Python is an anti-pattern.

Yes.

> * The 80/20 of functional programming is use pure functions and acknowledge that everything is a list or an operation on a list.

Yes, though pure functions are way more important.

> * GraphQL is better than REST when you have multiple clients, codegen or any AI/RAG needs

While GraphQL and RPC are better in a lot of ways, I'd propose that none of these forms of API are always necessary, and that there's nothing wrong with simply having a single endpoint that receives a POST request with some arbitrary data that responds with arbitrary data. People speak as if you must at least use REST, but that is not true, and REST probably should be avoided unless it's somehow called for.

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#82

Post by karmakaze »

mattbillenstein wrote: post #80
karmakaze wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything? Write your own distributed database? I'd much rather use opensource.

No, I mean I'd rather build tooling to run Postgres than use a 3rd party service to run it for me.

What about running your own db instance in a cloud VM? Do you really want to do all the infra management? I've done it and it isn't fun--well it can be making soup-to-nuts IaC recipies, but I wouldn't say it was a good use of my dev/ops working hours.

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#83

Post by amatecha »

amatecha wrote: post #45

So many. "AI" is the dotcom bubble (notice how every big company HAS to get in on it, no matter how ridiculous their application is?)... Further, it will simply allow those who apply their power unto others to do so in an even more egregious or deeply-reaching way. Advertising should be illegal. Proprietary software is basically always a trap (if it's not harmful or coercive at first, it eventually will be, well afte…

haha, how timely for me to say "proprietary software is basically always a trap"! https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/governments... (yeah, I know the same sort of thing can/does happen with FOSS stuff ;) )

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#84

Post by fragmede »

I knew I harbored one, and apparently my belief that we'll always have general purpose computing is controversial! That is, unlocked bootloaders on general purpose computers; laptops and desktops, will continue to exist well into the future. I guess others here are more cynical about a dystopian future coming about than I. Turns out MacOS is just a few releases away from flipping the switch and only running blessed software. Any day now, we won't be able to run our own programs on our own computers because iphones already don't let you do that.

Days I learn things about other people are always welcome!

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#86

Post by atleastoptimal »

tenahu wrote: post #85

Software should not be free for the users. The expectation that profits must be made through advertising, paired with the entitlement of users who scoff at the idea of paying for a product is a recipe for disaster over the long term.

Would Google have ever gotten off the ground if it started off paid?

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#87

Post by atleastoptimal »

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #73

I want to build as many tools by myself as possible. Obviously this is shunned in every company.

Is that because you enjoy it, you could be more productive with tools you make yourself, or some other reason?

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#88

Post by cratermoon »

tcbasche wrote: post #37
cratermoon wrote: post #5

I have two, at least. 1. Personal names are not generic strings, any more than Dates are numbers or Money is a floating point value. Name, as in a person's given and family name, or whatever, should be a type in every standard library, with behaviors appropriate for the semantics of a Name, language, and country. Yes there are lots of conflicting international differences. We've managed to handle languages and calend…

I love that first point and I wish it was something that was applied even further to other pieces of data - integers and floats are intended for mathematical operations and so to make database row identifiers integers always seemed strange to me.

That's a symptom of what's known as Primitive Obsession. Back in the days of programming languages before declaring new abstract data types with either prohibitively expensive (in time and/or memory) it was valid limitation. Today, there's rarely an excuse.

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#89

Post by atleastoptimal »

archagon wrote: post #68

Technology must serve humanity, not the other way around. If a new technology threatens to eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the benefits are marginal or largely in favor of the capital class, then we should probably not pursue that technology.

That's true, though most technology that eliminates jobs is a net benefit to humanity as a whole. Where would we be if stage coach drivers and telephone switchboard operators were assured permanent employment in their field?

Re: Ask HN: What's a strong tech opinion you have that few agree with you on?

#90

Post by fragmede »

tenahu wrote: post #85

Software should not be free for the users. The expectation that profits must be made through advertising, paired with the entitlement of users who scoff at the idea of paying for a product is a recipe for disaster over the long term.

Users, wallets full from a well paying, satisfying career job, will look a piece of software that they get tremendous use out of, decide that not only is it worth it, but want to support the developers of the product, and gleefully open their wallets and bestow money on the company that made it. Lol no just kidding. The first stop is to ask them pirate bay if they have a crack for it, then if there's an open source free version, and at no point are they really going to pay for, say, Winzip.

It's no wonder that free-but-with-ads is the predominant distribution method today.

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