Comment by pj4533

This is a WILD thread.

I had no idea so many people still clung to these lines!

Personally, I see huge value. I’ve built more in the past year than I ever have before. Ideas that used to go on a list, now get implemented in a weekend. The ones that are good, I’ve shipped. Others get played with, tested, and set aside. Not due to lack of quality, but the idea wasn’t right. Some need more thought so I’ll keep testing, and tweaking over time.

Evidence? Those projects would not exist if not for these tools. Not because I couldn’t write them, but because I WOULDN’T have written them.

But I’ve given up trying to convince people. If you don’t think it works, great. Don’t use it. That’s fine with me!

I’d urge you to keep trying though. Hopefully you have the moment as well. And if you think, “it’s ok for some things, but not what I do”, well…just don’t wait a year before trying again. Keep an open mind, and integrate the tools into your workflow everyday. Not as a one off “ok fine, I’ll test this stuff” grumpy kind of way, but in an honest iterative way where you are using the tools on a daily basis, even in a small way. For docs. Whatever. Just keep using them. Eventually you’ll see. Eventually you’ll have the moment.

One thing I think is lost in a lot of these conversations is how much FUN I am having. I’ve been coding for…well if you count copying BASIC from books into a Timex Sinclair, about 40+ years. Maybe professionally for 30+? I haven’t had this much FUN building since back when I copied those games from that little red book of BASIC programs. These tools make even mundane work fun for me, cause you need to have your workflow right. So coding becomes more like Factorio or something. Keep optimizing your setup, then simplify, the optimize, then simplify.

Syntax was always something that felt like a hurdle. I always rolled my eyes at people that get lost in the minutia of a language. Like I remember the Perl neck beards from way back. lol.

I learned what I needed to get the task done, then moved on. Likely forgetting 90% of the details anyway, so I could keep an eye on what I considered important. Architecture. Functionality. Separation of Concerns. Could I dive back in and figure out the details again if needed, sure. No problem.

NOW these tools let me work at this abstraction level even more.

And I’m here for it.

Just amazing this is where we are at as an industry.