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Comment by dzdt | Hacker News Reader

Inside humor is a kernel of truth, and in the subtle washed-out humor of this article I think the kernel of truth is that people WANT tools that they can use from childhood to old age. Tools that will remain constant. Tools that can serve a variety of purposes. Tools that will be familiar even as the world changes.

This is a challenge for software development. We are reaching the point now where there are tools like Microsoft Word which have been available with recognizable continuity for 30+ years. But even it isn't clear the right business model for software which is intended for a decades-lasting long term stable release. Is it the Office 365 subscription? Copyleft open source?

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> I think the kernel of truth is that people WANT tools that they can use from childhood to old age. Tools that will remain constant. Tools that can serve a variety of purposes. Tools that will be familiar even as the world changes.

People say they want tools like that... then whinge when said tools don't keep in lockstep with current-year UI fads.

The example I think of is Emacs. It works more or less the way it did when I became an Emacs user over 25 years ago, with vastly improved functionality, and it's worked that way since long before I started using it. And yet Hackernews, Reddit, and the Emacs mailing lists themselves are awash with people whose only contribution is to declare that Emacs will die unless it is completely overhauled and to look and behave exactly like the poster's favorite current-year IDE. Which was Eclipse 20 years ago, Sublime Text or JetBrains 10 years ago, and VSCode today.

Those other tools come and go, but Emacs is forever. Well, that is, until a successful campaign is launched to convince the world that its current UI is racist, misogynist, ableist, or otherwise harms some marginalized group, and the Emacs maintainership is disbanded and replaced with leaders more respectful of modern ESG guidelines.

Emacs is criticised for its very steep learning curve, not just for being different.

(Shallow learning curve. A steep learning curve means you acquire proficiency quickly—imagine a graph of proficiency over time.)

Interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve

The common expression "a steep learning curve" is a misnomer suggesting that an activity is difficult to learn and that expending much effort does not increase proficiency by much, although a learning curve with a steep start actually represents rapid progress.

I originally said "high learning curve", but I started wondering what it meant for a curve to be "high". I then looked up the "correct" expression -- and copied it because it was a common usage -- but found it confusing for the reason you said. The confusion might come from climbing a steep hill: It's tiring.

Why can't I put time on the Y axis?

You can—but that would be unusual.

What analogy are you going for? Screwdrivers? Hammers? Even those haven't stayed the same. While I still have the old reliable Craftsman flat blade, I also have a very nice Wera bit driver and a box full of Torx screws. Drills have gone from corded-only to brushless lithium.

You could tell me that I could stick to old tools but then I'm going to throw your drill chuck key into the lawn.

I would personally replace "Tools" with "Cognitive models".

A hammer and a nail gun really don't differ all that much when your task is binding wood.

As someone in the trades, I really disagree. Most applications that require a hammer could not be accomplished with a nail gun. Nail guns are great for attaching thin materials over thicker materials, like putting MDX onto a frame or attaching roofing materials. You don't generally frame with a nail gun because you want to use larger and heavier nails driven a lot deeper. For very light or precision work on finished surfaces you go back to the hammer because it reduces the chance of scuffing or marking on the surface.

"Binding wood" is much more nuanced than you make it seem.

Oh man, if you haven't seen "Reality Contains a Surprising Amount of Detail", prepare to be delighted.

Also: I thought there were framing nailers that fire larger coated sinkers like you'd drive with a hammer? When are those appropriate, and when should nailing framing be done by hand?

No one hammers framing nails by hand anymore, except occasionally. The framing nailer has completely taken over. There are even very good cordless framing nailers now, so no dragging an air hose behind you everywhere you go.

It's been a few years since I did any framing, so I could be wrong about the current state of the industry.

I worked as a framer with my dad for around 4 years in the mid 2000s. We framed small residential homes in southern Colorado and although we would always carry a hammer on our belt to "align" a stud, bend flashing and drive in nails that hit a knot; nail guns hooked up to a shared compressor was how nearly everything got, well, nailed together.

What the analogy proposes as that the cog models and tools sort of develop in tandem.

It's a logical step from a hammer to another driver because you have experience with the fundamental tools.

I would say that cognitive models develop more rapidly and we design tools to fill that space, occasionally developing a tool that can expand the space, usually by building on knowns.

Sorry to diminish your trade in particular :) It was the first thing that came to mind.

I hope that makes sense in context.

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