Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

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Isn't not programming at all even easier? You don't have to get money, find a computer to buy, buy a computer, install an OS, buy an Internet connection, install a web browser, learn to browse the web, learn about how hosting works, find a host, get money to buy a hosting account, learn about apache, install apache, learn about php, install php, learn about text editors, install a text editor, learn php, write PHP, learn about scp, install scp, scp file to server. By the time you've become that proficient with all that stuff, apt-get install libcatalyst-perl on your desktop sounds about as easy as finding a host that supports PHP.

It's not like PHP solves any of the real problems, like how to manage upstream changes, how to automate releases, how to rollback database schemas after a bad release, and so on. The reason why nobody ever talks about those things is because everyone handles them with downtime and swearing. That's not software engineering. That's fail.

Not programming at all is easier, yes. Not programming is also much more popular than programming in PHP.

Edit: To be a bit less snarky here, you are arguing that the sunk costs of learning to use a computer justify more effort spent in getting a web site running just because the effort already sunk dwarfs the additional effort required. But in fact not only is that cost sunk but once I've learned to use a computer my time and energy is suddenly more valuable.

False dichotomy. You can do some things quickly in PHP (vs other languages), and some things in life and in programming need to be done quickly.

There's a place for doing things fast, and a place for doing things right. You're wrong to assume everything requires the latter.

If you don't have time to do things right, how are you ever going to find time to do them over and over again?

Sometimes, doing things fast opens up opportunities to do things right.

This is true. However, if you do things fast and wrong, you've got an even bigger problem in figuring it out how to do things right because now you have to do both at the same time, and usually with the same number of people.

You know, not only that, but this implies that wrong is always fast. That is wrong. Often, wrong goes slower as time goes on. I'd rather have slow, steady progress than explosive growth and eventual failure.

I've got some legacy apps I work on that prove that wrong. :)

False dichotomy too. When I was kid my parents always required me too do things "vite et bien" (fast and well) and it its only much later, with more experience and also some understanding of what is said by Zhuangzi the Taoist, that I understood that both are compatible, and even require each other. Example: if you tidy up your room, doing it slowly means focusing on ordering your Lego by size and color, while doing it fast means moving everything to their place in less than 5 mn.

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