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The boring front-end developer

thebfed.com

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Re: The boring front-end developer

#21

Post by fuzzywalrus »

vilmosi wrote: post #2

Good article, I agree with a lot of this, but I can't help myself from commenting. >>> When given the choice to add a preprocessor (e.g. LESS, SASS, CoffeeScript etc) to the technology stack, the BFED realises there is a deeper impact beyond just "writing less code". Will it be harder to onboard developers? Will debugging code be more difficult? If the answer to any of these questions is yes then the BFED will say no…

This should phrased about how much you lean on preprocessors. Sass is more more intelligible than regular CSS in many circumstances unless you're trying write everything as programmatically as possible. Its easily to write a For loop that spits out a grid but may make look like greek to a junior dev.

CSS preprocessors are unique, with LESS and Sass, you can write straight CSS and use its wonderful concatenation through imports, or just its nesting or perhaps simple variables for colors. There's so much benefit that I can't imagine not using them.

Re: The boring front-end developer

#22

Post by Animats »

There are times when you need heavy machinery running in the browser. It's impressive to see a water surface simulator or some live graph running in the browser. That's rare, though. Many sites that would work perfectly in HTML 3.2 have way too much machinery behind them.

Much of the heavy machinery is there to support two simple functions - adapting to screen size, and scrolling. That's because the HTML5/CSS model does not natively do either very well. Other machinery is there for form input validation, which HTML does not support directly.

There is, of course, the other major use of Javascript - silently obtaining information about the user and sending it somewhere to be "monetized".

Re: The boring front-end developer

#23

Post by sanderjd »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #17
vilmosi wrote: post #2

Good article, I agree with a lot of this, but I can't help myself from commenting. >>> When given the choice to add a preprocessor (e.g. LESS, SASS, CoffeeScript etc) to the technology stack, the BFED realises there is a deeper impact beyond just "writing less code". Will it be harder to onboard developers? Will debugging code be more difficult? If the answer to any of these questions is yes then the BFED will say no…

Controversial opinion, but I myself use CSS preprocessors quite sparingly. I actually see nothing wrong with the CSS syntax. I like the fact that CSS is (almost) nothing but a bunch of named key-value pairs. The real issues have always been semantic, in the subtleties of the box model, which Flexbox is addressing somewhat, though more daring ideas like constraint-based styling are still niche. Just look at the LESS e…

I think "some code duplication" massively understates it. Being able to use named variables for colors is on its own enough of a win to make up for whatever truth there is in the "harder to train developers" downside. The many other wins make it a no-brainer.

Re: The boring front-end developer

#24

Post by cnp »

I worked for a few years at an agency that adhered very closely to these principles, and you know what? When things started to rapidly change around 2013 everyone was consumed and overwhelmed, and when it came time to necessarily onboard them on new technologies such as build systems, css preprocessors and the like, the skepticism was so profound, and caused such a problem for those of us looking to make everyones life easier, that the process took way longer than it should have taken with loops and hoops that I hope to never have to repeat.

After that experience, I fully equate the BFED with someone not ready to handle the incredible momentum of the industry and, for better or for worse, would never consider hiring them. There are too many good ideas being born right now to risk falling into rigid patterns of thinking.

Re: The boring front-end developer

#25

Post by phil248 »

j_baker wrote: post #10

Blah. Yet another "new-fangled technologies have no place" post. Granted, there's a grain of truth to the core thought. As I've become more experienced, I've seen more frameworks and libraries that re-invent the wheel and solve problems that have already been solved long ago, albeit in a trendier manner. But at the end of the day, software engineers are technologists. Our job is to create and consume technology. Bein…

"This is the technology industry, we don't have time for new technology!"

Re: The boring front-end developer

#26

Post by hiou »

cnp wrote: post #24

I worked for a few years at an agency that adhered very closely to these principles, and you know what? When things started to rapidly change around 2013 everyone was consumed and overwhelmed, and when it came time to necessarily onboard them on new technologies such as build systems, css preprocessors and the like, the skepticism was so profound, and caused such a problem for those of us looking to make everyones li…

I watched a company almost go under(shrank to almost no employees) after exactly what you described. The BFEDs(including the CTO) refused to update their skills and the company tools/stack and the company was beaten out by competitors.

Re: The boring front-end developer

#28

Post by vdaniuk »

savanaly wrote: post #16

>The BFED realises that while not all experiences will be identical, all browsers can be used to consume a website, even gasp, IE6 and below. I don't understand this point. He must be speaking of degrees, not a binary decision, right? Surely he wouldn't advocate supporting Netscape 1.0? >When given the choice to add a preprocessor (e.g. LESS, SASS, CoffeeScript etc) to the technology stack, the BFED realises there is…

This "manifesto" doesn't even try to consider tradeoffs. There is no analysis of stakeholder preferences or path-dependent UX/UI evolution or personal projects for fun and learning. It doesn't consider neither business requirements nor developer satisfaction.

However, the article is quite good at hipster shaming, so it gets upvoted to HN front page. A classic example of link bait tailored for its audience.

It's telling that your comment with point by point discussion of BFED propositions is at the very bottom, btw.

>He/she will not just use [insert buzz word here] to improve his/her chances of finding another job based on the current technology fad in order to increase their day rate.

And this quote is just... wow.

Re: The boring front-end developer

#29

Post by vlunkr »

smacktoward wrote: post #14

> “As a Lead JavaScript Engineer, I try to get my team to write as little JavaScript as possible.” I would argue that the wisdom of this goes beyond JavaScript to all programming. Or, to put it slightly differently: how can you tell the difference between an inexperienced programmer and an experienced one? The inexperienced programmer thinks of every line of code as an asset. The experienced one thinks of every line…

That's a great quote! (the last line) That's something I've experienced but hadn't really been aware of until I read that.
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