It's always been like that. Maybe it was even worse before, and I am remembering
it with rose-tinted glasses. But from the best that I can remember, it had at
least some roots in reality. If something was objectively bad, you could point
to it. But what I have started noticing recently is that objectivity is not the
only condition to bash on something. More and more, you can use subjective
opinion to say horrible things about technology, language or just a specific
manufacturer.
And all this has achieved is that I don't really listen to anybody anymore. I
don't care what you think about X or Y. I don't care if you like this language
or that one. I don't care if you prefer Dell to ThinkPad over Macbook. Who gives
a fuck, anyway? If you can do your job on it, why even care about this stuff at
all. And if you can't, buy a different machine.
It's like the politics weren't enough. Now the same tribalism is here as well. C
developers hating on Rust. JavaScript developers laughing at jQuery users. Rust
developers laughing at everybody except Haskell users. And everybody laughing at
JavaScript. It's like this never-ending dream, being stuck in high school. Us
against your team. It's like we are all stuck being 16. Such a sad state of
affair. And it's always been like this. But it's getting worse I think.
Everybody trying to be elitist. Compensating lack of JavaScript features (like
type system, for one) with coming up with this insane terminology to make
JavaScript sound more sophisticated, as it is. Let's invent terminology to hide
flaws and sound more educated and academic. And the same goes for C and all the
other languages. All languages are shitty in some ways. For the love of God,
why? Just let it be. For once, let things just be.
And I, for one, just do not care anymore. Languages are tools and not your
identity. If you need a programming language to fill a void in your life, I
strongly suggest that you re-evaluate where you stand currently. Try something
else. You are not a C developer, or Go developer, or JavaScript developer. You
are a problem solver. That's what you are. And be damn proud of it. You don't
need a label to make that more true or more sophisticated.
I use Linux and macOS. I have fun on both systems. In my personal experience,
Macbooks are better laptops for what I need them to be. They are better fit for
me. Portable machines with an amazing battery life. That's all that I need from
a laptop. I don't need to come up with this insane hypothetical scenarios where
it will fell short. Yes, it can't water the plants when I am sleeping. OMG, are
we really going there. These insane hypotheticals. Who really cares? I don't! I
use it, it does what I need it to do, and that is the end of the story. Not only
that, but I don't push this down other people's throats. Like Tsodings often
says: It is what it is, and it isn't what it isn't. Such wise words. On my main
machine I have Linux and had it for more than 20 years and I love it. I LOVE
it. I am used to it. And I've had some shitty experiences with it, but damn it,
I love it. It does what it needs to do. It fits my needs. And if I needed
Windows, I would find a way to love it too. Why not? There is enough love to go
around where you are not being elitist and a shithead.
Programming should be fun. Not going through a checklist before you even start,
to see if you are using what is considered the “cool” thing. If you are doing
this, you already failed in my opinion.
Oh, you are not using this “insert here” algorithm? Such a pleb. Don't you know
about O(N) complexity? OMG, such a noob. He doesn't know. Uneducated pleb. 2017
called, and they want their stack back.
Yes, there is a place for all of those things. But not everything needs to be
perfect. There is an awesome quote in Uncharted: Sic Parvis Magna. “greatness,
from small beginnings.”
I would laugh if it wasn't sad. And in the end, who cares. Let these people
worry about making the perfect solutions that will never ship or take years to
finish because “Early optimization is the root of all evil.” Everybody has their
definition of fun. I just don't want to listen to people preaching to others how
to do stuff. If people would just shut up and think before they speak 5% of the
time, the world would be a different place. But that will never happen. So the
only solution is to not give a fuck.
This is more a rant than an actual post with some solution, so maybe I am a part
of the problem. Who knows? Just venting. Every so often it helps.
Do your Rust thing. It's not for me, though. But if it works for you, more power
to you. Do your project with vanilla JavaScript. You don't always need
TypeScript, Next.js or who know what else to make a button do a thing. Use VS
Code or Vim or Emacs or even Notepad if you wish. If you are having fun, then
just do it. Don't worry about these elitist pricks. They will never be satisfied
anyway. You will never get their approval. So why even bother. Just go for
it. Use C, Rust, OCaml, whatever floats your boat. If it tickles you, just do
it. To hell with everybody else. And if somebody says O(N) complexity, dude? You
can say, OOOOO, fuck the fuck off.
If this post triggered you, then you are the asshole. Probably. Then you
probably are that guy preaching about O(N) or this language is soo slow
haha. Stop it. Nobody cares! Touch grass.
Anyway, back to having fun. Cheers!