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When did our tools become our religion?

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Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#11

Post by exmadscientist »

jdeaton wrote: post #4

> It is rather simple: The tools don't matter. Its hard to read past nonsense like this.

It's entirely true, though. If you can deliver good work, on time, integrating well with your team (as applicable), then no one cares what tools you used or generally how you did it. It might be very important to you, and you can absolutely spend time on getting your setup right for you, but you should not make the mistake of thinking that anyone else cares.

Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#13

Post by CharlesW »

the_third_wave wrote: post #10

They're not a religion in any sense of the word. A culture, maybe. A religion? Nay, never. OK, I'll make an exception for Emacs users. And Lisp users, them as well seeing how as both sort of fit in the same pews. Apple also has attracted a pious crowd so they also get an exception, especially given the sacrifices which its followers make, the regular pilgrimages to the Holy Store where the latest sacrament is purchas…

Forgive me father, for I have used tabs to indent my code.

Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#14

Post by thdrtnl »

I understand what this post is trying to say, but I believe tools matter.

Since I started using Jetbrains software I am able to work more agile because refactoring just works (most of the time).

But when another brand comes with a better IDE I will just as easily abandon Jetbrains.

Imho you should use the best tool for the job. But both the jobs and tools change.

Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#16

Post by bloblaw »

FTA: > Otherwise, the only thing that matters is that the tool works. Every tool comes with its own upsides and downsides, but most of them are increasingly the same. They mostly differ in workflow. But I can promise you: they all draw rectangles equally as well. If you can accomplish your work with the tool, then it serves its purpose.

Eevee dismissed with that argument succinctly when they wrote in their "PHP: a fractal of bad design" article:

> Do not tell me that “good developers can write good code in any language”, or bad developers blah blah. That doesn’t mean anything. A good carpenter can drive in a nail with either a rock or a hammer, but how many carpenters do you see bashing stuff with rocks? Part of what makes a good developer is the ability to choose the tools that work best.

That last sentence drives the point home.

Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#18

Post by Canada »

It's not our tools. It's our argument over our tools that is our religion. It's what keeps us moving forward to discover the one true way... that One True Way that of course we will never reach or agree on. Naturally we clan up and try to get everyone else on board with what we love at the moment. It's all good, preach on!

Re: When did our tools become our religion?

#19

Post by jfabre »

the_third_wave wrote: post #10

They're not a religion in any sense of the word. A culture, maybe. A religion? Nay, never. OK, I'll make an exception for Emacs users. And Lisp users, them as well seeing how as both sort of fit in the same pews. Apple also has attracted a pious crowd so they also get an exception, especially given the sacrifices which its followers make, the regular pilgrimages to the Holy Store where the latest sacrament is purchas…

For every fervent user of X, I can find you 5 zealous irrational haters who are 100% convinced that X is just a religious fluff and that there is no way it's actually better than Y (what they are using). I have in fact, been guilty of that kind of thinking myself.
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