When I was about 4 my parents got divorced. Initially they lived near each other but slowly one of them moved further away until I would only see one of my parents every other weekend. One of the side effects of this was that every other Friday and Sunday, we’d spend 2 hours in the car driving from one parent’s home to the other’s. This left very little time for dinner prep and resulted in eating lots of fast food. As a kid I didn’t mind of course, I thought it was great! All the soda, burgers, fries, tacos, and pizza a child could ever dream of. Even after I was an adult and feeding myself, I still kept the same habits. I found that I was still in the car a lot, driving to and from work, class, and my parents’ homes and it was to easy to swing by a McDonalds or Taco Bell.
As I got older I realized that this probably isn’t the best way to live. Maybe instead of eating a burger every day I could make myself a sandwich or something at home. Something quick and easy to make and take on the go. This later evolved into make dishes that were easy to make batches of and toss portions into a container. Quick to heat up and eat when needed. I never stopped eating fast food, but it became much more rare. I could count months between stops at a McDonalds or Taco Bell instead of days or hours.
Now if you’ve made it this far you’re probably asking how this relates to programming. Well, I’ve noticed the same trends of ease and health when it comes to the code around me. There are the popular libraries boasting about their high user count, just as McDonalds used to boast about the “Over 99 Billion Served”. There’s the common discussions about just how easy it is to add yet another package, just as easy as it is to drive through the Taco Bell drive-thru and grab another Crunchwrap Supreme. And just like how it’s hard to wean yourself off of fast food, it’s hard for our developers to wean themselves of the things which are so easy to grab without thought.
When discussing alternative food options with someone who eats fast food, the main points are usually whether the other options have comparable cost and are similarly easy. For me it mostly came down to learning what my other options were. Thinking about cooking something ahead of time initially felt daunting. How could I possibly find the time to do it? What about finding all of the ingredients? All of these quick recipes I find look like awful “health food”, that stuff sucks. It turned out that once I actually started trying some that it was much easier than I expected, and they tasted really great! Sure the first couple times I stumbled a little but that’s because the whole experience felt new to me. Once I got into the groove of making my own food I found that I didn’t need or even want fast food as much. Even something as simple as a loaf of bread and some deli meats was significantly cheaper and faster then any fast food I could find.
The same I found to be true with code. When I stopped and took a look at what else was available, tried a few things out, I found that some of them were a lot faster and cheaper than the “popular” options, and they tasted just as good if not better.
I see the same judgement in both food and programming too. Developers who have gotten so comfortable with their habits that they look across the table at something foreign to them and assume that because it’s different that it couldn’t possibly be as easy to learn or work with as what they already know. No different from how some people look at foreign foods and think “yuck, that looks gross”. Yes, sometimes those foods are still gross when you eat them, partly because it’s not what you grew up with. Other times you might try it and find that it’s actually incredible and you’ve been missing out for years because you were too afraid to try.
Just the same, developers will start with one style of programming and stick with it for years and think that anything that looks different must be wrong. If only they were willing to try they might find one or two other styles that either complement their current one or even become their new favorite.
This isn’t to shame developers, no more than it is to shame those who choose to eat fast food. I’m only asking for some reflection about what we’re consuming and whether or not there are healthier alternatives. I know I will continue to reach for fast food on occasion, just as I’ll continue to reach for the easy code when it suits me. But maybe we could consume a little less of the fast foods and learn to try things that are a little foreign to us.
This post was born from how often I encounter languages and tooling that are chosen because they are “so easy” to get started with and then a year or so down the road the app is bloated and difficult to maintain. Not too dissimilar from the health complications that come from how easy it is to eat fast food.
Wolfgang's Musings 