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The worst tool for the job

johndcook.com

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Re: The worst tool for the job

#171

Post by lmm »

Lammy wrote: post #135
klodolph wrote: post #4

Eh, something to be said for mid-range too. I have a 12v cordless drill. Ended up saving me tons of work over the years but by no means either the best or the worst. Musical instruments. The low-end ones tend to be true disasters. Mid-range CPUs and GPUs are wonderful. Kitchen mixers, knives, screwdrivers, soldering irons, drill presses, etc. Plenty of times the worst tool is so obviously terrible that you probably s…

Everyone in this thread seems to assume buying a brand-new item. My preferred route is to buy the high-end of one generation prior, used, from somebody who is upgrading to the latest and greatest. They can pay the early-adopter tax for me.

If you're experienced enough to be able to tell (or have a trusted friend) then that's a good route. But if you're a beginner buying used then it's a lemon market and you can very easily get ripped off.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#173

Post by lmm »

commandlinefan wrote: post #99

When coding in Java, I usually start with a shell script that compiles the code rather than, say, a POM or a Gradle build - I don't upgrade to a dedicated build system until a) the shell script becomes more trouble than it's worth or b) I have to share with somebody else. There's something to be said for having complete control over every aspect of the build.

I disagree. Having complete control just gives you the chance to micromanage build steps and get bogged down in the details.

I start with the most minimal POM possible - just listing dependencies - and firmly resist any custom build steps or even custom configuration. That way everything is standard, my build will be cross-platform and IDE-agnostic, and anyone else who picks up the codebase can immediately understand the build and be productive.

If I absolutely need some custom build step, then I'll go all the way to making a proper, first-class maven plugin. I'll write it in proper production-quality Java with unit tests, code coverage and all the rest of it.

IMO customising build steps in a scripting language (whether that's shell, Gradle, or even something like Python) is exactly the middle ground that you want to avoid. You can waste lots of time fiddling with how your build is structured, and it's still going to be less maintainable.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#174

Post by glouwbug »

throwaway98797 wrote: post #43
gk1 wrote: post #2

What a great principle. One of those things I've felt for a long time but never express so well as John did. This idea extends to many other things, like... sports equipment. Beginner runners/bikers/skateboarders/whatever will not really feel the difference between equipment that cost $100 and $1,000, so get the cheap one and use it to (its) death. If you're still into the sport by then, go ahead and get the nicer on…

Disagree. I gave up on so many sports cause of faulty uncomfortable equipment. As child we had such shitty swim goggles that they would leak badly. For 10 years I swam without them and kept my eyes hurting eventually couldn’t take it and quit cause of eye pain. As adult with money bought a nice pair for $20 and realized not all goggles leak.

Nothing wrong with goggles. A child's face is just too small

Re: The worst tool for the job

#175

Post by ubercow13 »

smoll wrote: post #164
ubercow13 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just feeling the difference, it’s preventing injury and allowing yourself to progress at a speed which keeps you interested at all. I only finally started running regularly after years of trying and failing after buying proper shoes. The difference was immediate.

What made you keep trying running even though you failed multiple times at it? And had you failed even with excellent running shoes, would you have even kept trying? (Maybe you would have thought: "Well, I already have the best shoes. If I still can't get good, maybe I should give up forever.")

Well, I was always fundamentally motivated by wanting to be able to run for the health benefits, but that motivation was tempered by lack of progress. If I hadn't changed shoes I might have given up eventually.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#176

Post by pryelluw »

gk1 wrote: post #2

What a great principle. One of those things I've felt for a long time but never express so well as John did. This idea extends to many other things, like... sports equipment. Beginner runners/bikers/skateboarders/whatever will not really feel the difference between equipment that cost $100 and $1,000, so get the cheap one and use it to (its) death. If you're still into the sport by then, go ahead and get the nicer on…

About two uears ago I got into mountain biking. Went into a bile shop with and spent $300 on a mountain-ish bike and a helmet.

I thought about upgrading multiple times because "I had outgrown the bike". An upgrade was $1200.

So, I decided to only upgrade if I could not beat my best time on a specific short trail. Well, I kept going faster and fastee. Untill the tires were the obvious thing holding me back.

I upgraded the tires for $20 (clearance sale) and tested again. Still faster.

Ended up not buying the new $1200 bike.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#177

Post by superlopuh »

A related principle: when given a choice between a subscription and a one-off purchase always take the subscription until you've paid the price of the object. Most of the time I cancel the subscription, so the principle pays for itself in amortized cost, and I spend at most twice as much money in the worst case

Re: The worst tool for the job

#178

Post by dr_zoidberg »

ubercow13 wrote: post #149
kemiller2002 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musical instruments. The low-end ones tend to be true disasters. Funny story about that one. My ex-wife's family are professionals in the music industry: playing, repairing, etc. Her dad plays, repairs, and sells trumpets. A mom and her kid come into the store and he hates playing the trumpet. I mean hates it, he's not good at it, can't stand practicing and begs to just leave it broken. They come into the get a valve…

Yep! Playing cheap brass instruments is really difficult. When I first got an expensive horn it was the most sublime feeling, instead of working hard to make a sound it was like effortlessly singing through the instrument. You just breathe and everything resonates the way it should and all is in tune. It feels so natural.

Had a moment like that back when I was a teenager taking violin lessons. One day my teacher was berating me for not having practiced enough (she was right) but I insisted it was because my violin was giving me a hard time. So she challenged me: "use my violin and show me". The thing was beautiful to play, and I managed to play the whole piece in a go. She still knew I hadn't been practicing, but I got a chance to play a great instrument.

However, my cheap violin did have a good thing: the bare D string would make its box resonate when tuned correctly. And from there the rest of the instrument could be tuned pretty well. I still have that cheap violin, however I stopped playing a long time ago. I should pick it up again some time.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#179

Post by FridgeSeal »

tikhonj wrote: post #134
gk1 wrote: post #2

What a great principle. One of those things I've felt for a long time but never express so well as John did. This idea extends to many other things, like... sports equipment. Beginner runners/bikers/skateboarders/whatever will not really feel the difference between equipment that cost $100 and $1,000, so get the cheap one and use it to (its) death. If you're still into the sport by then, go ahead and get the nicer on…

This is harder than it sounds because the bottom of the market is often well below a minimum viable level, to the point that you're actively making learning harder for yourself if you go there. You might not feel the difference between $100 and $1000 shoes, but Walmart has $15 shoes which are probably bad enough they make it harder to start running and learn proper technique. I've experienced this pretty directly wit…

Same with mountain biking.

If someone starts riding trails on the cheapest, or near cheapest option, they're going to at best have a bad enough time to be dissuaded from doing it, and at worst actually end up hurting/endangering themselves or others.

Not to say you need to run out and buy the most expensive bike one can, but there's certainly a balance to be had.

Re: The worst tool for the job

#180

Post by klodolph »

Harlekuin wrote: post #162
klodolph wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one pair of designer sunglasses that I picked up on sale. They are comfortable to the point that I can barely feel them. They also look really good. I also have a ton of $10 sunglasses from street vendors and online stores. For my taste, all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Everything cool is either some cheapo monstrosity…

> all the mid-range sunglasses are super boring and make you look boring. Great for going out and meeting other boring people. Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses

> Found this comment rubbed me the wrong way - seems insane to me to judge the boringness of a person by the price of their sunglasses

You must be responding to how you feel, because you sure as hell aren’t responding to what I wrote.

Allow me to explain my position.

Clothing is a form of communication. When you wear particular clothing, it communicates which group you identify with or want to associate with.

Let’s suppose that we were having a conversation and you said to me, “I don’t like to stand out, I like to blend in with the crowd and avoid being noticed.” I might think that you were a bit boring. You can communicate the same thing by wearing boring clothing.

What I’m doing is judging you based on the things that you communicate to me. If you are bad at non-verbal communication, don’t worry about accidentally coming off as boring—it’s very hard to communicate “boring” with your clothing, and it doesn’t happen by accident.

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