This is great. I was just thinking about this phenomena when I woke up this morning.
In the early days there were general purpose toolmakers. And tool users had to develop the skill to use general purpose tools. They could then tackle a variety of tasks.
Today it appears that the most effort goes to making special purpose toolkits (e.g., frameworks). The only "skill" that the toolkit user must develop is mastering the toolkit. But the kits are enormous, the documentation is enormous and the time commitment is, relative to the number and variety of tasks she will be equipped to tackle after mastery, enormous. I'd venture to guess most users of frameworks only use a small fraction of the toolkit. Hence they can only tackle a small fraction of the tasks that the toolkit could permit them to tackle were they to master all of it. To learn how to use every feature (every tool) within these specialized kits would seemingly take a "lifetime".
Is learning a "framework" worth my time? What happens when the tasks change and the toolkit I've mastered is replaced by a different one? What if I spent my time learning how to use the general purpose tools (still available on every computer running UNIX) that can be used to build special purpose toolkits instead?
Measured in terms of learning and skill development, maybe the greatest benefactors of frameworks are the folks that build them. That is a thought I had. Presumably they must themselves know how to use more general purpose tools. Thus they can build frameworks of more specialized tools. If this is true, that is a skill that is worth the time investment, in my opinion.
Joel on Software was a great forum. I only wish Joel was a UNIX programmer. His frame of reference always seems to be Windows.
In the early days there were general purpose toolmakers. And tool users had to develop the skill to use general purpose tools. They could then tackle a variety of tasks.
Today it appears that the most effort goes to making special purpose toolkits (e.g., frameworks). The only "skill" that the toolkit user must develop is mastering the toolkit. But the kits are enormous, the documentation is enormous and the time commitment is, relative to the number and variety of tasks she will be equipped to tackle after mastery, enormous. I'd venture to guess most users of frameworks only use a small fraction of the toolkit. Hence they can only tackle a small fraction of the tasks that the toolkit could permit them to tackle were they to master all of it. To learn how to use every feature (every tool) within these specialized kits would seemingly take a "lifetime".
Is learning a "framework" worth my time? What happens when the tasks change and the toolkit I've mastered is replaced by a different one? What if I spent my time learning how to use the general purpose tools (still available on every computer running UNIX) that can be used to build special purpose toolkits instead?
Measured in terms of learning and skill development, maybe the greatest benefactors of frameworks are the folks that build them. That is a thought I had. Presumably they must themselves know how to use more general purpose tools. Thus they can build frameworks of more specialized tools. If this is true, that is a skill that is worth the time investment, in my opinion.
Joel on Software was a great forum. I only wish Joel was a UNIX programmer. His frame of reference always seems to be Windows.