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I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

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Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#41

Post by supakeen »

I feel that over the years of doing things related to web development I actually have to Google less.

Frameworks change, idioms change, but the web itself has largely remained stable (it's still HTTP, even if we now sometimes use HTTP/2). The same security concepts apply.

I feel like I can authoratively answer on more subjects than I could 10 years ago.

Maybe this is mostly related to front-end frameworks? We've only really had one big shakeup in the backend and that's that for the past decade or so we've all moved towards preferring async code (yay Python3k).

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#42

Post by klez »

awinder wrote: post #38
jim-jim-jim wrote: post #28

One of the things I don't like about webdev (among many) is that I even have to Google in the first place. Manpages are so much more immediate and accessible. I also think that anything js-adjacent has a real culture problem. Trying to dredge an answer out of a Medium tutorial written in a cloying tone and interspersed with pointless gifs can be such a groan enducing experience. I'm hoping that the community will mat…

I’d honestly love to know what people are comparing to javascript when they complain about rate of change / having to learn, unless it’s just a mental bias on learning something new vs something they’re comfortable with. I’m in a new position working on python and spring APIs and it’s effectively the same deal — researching means filtering through bitrotted methods and advice over a 4-5 year period, new methods & lib…

Try C. You can find stuff from 20 years ago and it's still mostly relevant. Or at least applicable.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#43

Post by braythwayt »

jim-jim-jim wrote: post #28

One of the things I don't like about webdev (among many) is that I even have to Google in the first place. Manpages are so much more immediate and accessible. I also think that anything js-adjacent has a real culture problem. Trying to dredge an answer out of a Medium tutorial written in a cloying tone and interspersed with pointless gifs can be such a groan enducing experience. I'm hoping that the community will mat…

Speaking as someone who writes blog posts littered with irrelevant pictures (but never on Medium!), I acknowledge your experience trying to solve a problem based on a blog post.

Manpages and documentation are written to be references. Blog posts are written to be tutorials. They have different affordances, and as a result it is very hard to learn how to use something purely from a reference, and very different to solve a problem purely from a tutorial.

That’s why really decent reference sites have both step by-step tutorials AND references designed to answer questions quickly and to be easily searchable.

If there is an opportunity here, it is for search to understand the difference and know how to present the two kinds of results differently.

That way, if you question is, “How does this thing work?” You should get tutorials. If your question is much more specific, like “what parameters does this take?” You should get a reference.

Or something hand-wave-y along those lines.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#44

Post by mrmonkeyman »

maxxxxx wrote: post #24
travisoneill1 wrote: post #18

Google is not a search engine. It is a memory upgrade, and anybody who tries to write software with a standard human memory is obsolete.

That’s total nonsense. Having a good memory is still extremely valuable.

Humans suck at both memory _and_ logic, which you demonstrated just now.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#45

Post by Waterluvian »

supakeen wrote: post #41

I feel that over the years of doing things related to web development I actually have to Google less. Frameworks change, idioms change, but the web itself has largely remained stable (it's still HTTP, even if we now sometimes use HTTP/2). The same security concepts apply. I feel like I can authoratively answer on more subjects than I could 10 years ago. Maybe this is mostly related to front-end frameworks? We've only…

I think it's like a chemist needing to reference the periodic table less as they inherently memorize more of it. That's not the hard part of chemistry. Looking up call signatures, APIs and common patterns is not the hard part of software development.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#46

Post by ehnto »

supakeen wrote: post #41

I feel that over the years of doing things related to web development I actually have to Google less. Frameworks change, idioms change, but the web itself has largely remained stable (it's still HTTP, even if we now sometimes use HTTP/2). The same security concepts apply. I feel like I can authoratively answer on more subjects than I could 10 years ago. Maybe this is mostly related to front-end frameworks? We've only…

I would agree. Frontend ecosystems and idioms have changed frequently, each time adding a new layer of concepts. Backend architecture has progressed but the concepts are pretty stable. Caching, authentication, roles, models, interpolated templates and so on. Same toolkit but more refined.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#48

Post by maxxxxx »

nvrspyx wrote: post #29
maxxxxx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s total nonsense. Having a good memory is still extremely valuable.

No one said it’s not still valuable, but less so on it’s own with the advent of the internet and Google. The same thing can be said with taking notes in school: you’re less effective using human memory alone without the augment of note taking.

Yes, you need both. I think it's even more important today with the massive amount of information that's available. And in addition you need the skill to look up stuff.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#49

Post by klez »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #20
sbhn wrote: post #7

I can solve any problem, in any language using google, which will probably forward me onto stackexchange or Github.

Which begs the question why we're not going straight to stackexchange. I'm doing the same btw, just using DDG instead.

Because somehow the search function on SE mostly sucks. I tried a couple of times (especially when flagging duplicates) and it's really hard. I usually just revert to Google or ddg.

Re: I’m not really a good web developer, I'm just good at Googling things

#50

Post by maxxxxx »

thejohnconway wrote: post #27
travisoneill1 wrote: post #18

Google is not a search engine. It is a memory upgrade, and anybody who tries to write software with a standard human memory is obsolete.

To stretch the analogy a bit: it’s like virtual memory. Not as fast as RAM, but there’s an effectively infinite amount of it.

Probably a good analogy. And it's also incredibly slow so you need to have a good amount of RAM and CPU cache.
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