On Sat, 9 Sep 2000, Oliver Xymoron wrote:
>
> Tools are tools. They don't make better code. They make better code easier
> if used properly.
I think you missed the point of my original reply completely.
The _technical_ side of the tool in question is completely secondary.
The social engineering side is very real, and immediate.
It's not whether you can use tools to do the work.
It's about what kind of people you get.
You were the one who brought up the power drill analogy. I'll take it, and
run with it, and maybe you can see _my_ point by me taking your analogy
and running with it.
Yes, using a power-drill and other tools makes a lot of carpentry easier.
To the point that a lot of carpenters don't even use their hands much any
more. Almost all the "carpentry" today is 99% automated, and sure, it
works wonderfuly - especially as you in carpentry cannot do it any other
way if you want to mass-produce stuff.
But take a moment to look at it the other way.
If you want to find the true carpenters today, what do you do? Not just "a
carpenter". But THE carpenter.
I'm saying that maybe you put up a carpentry shop where everything is
lovingly hand-crafted and tools are not considered to be the most
important part - or even necessarily good. And yes, some people
(carpenters in every sense of the word) will be frustrated. They can't use
the power-lathe that they are used to. It doesn't suit them. They _know_
that they are missing something.
But in the end, maybe the rule to only use hand power makes sense. Not
because hand-power is _better_. But because it brings in the kind of
people who love to work with their hands, who love to _feel_ the wood with
their fingers, and because of that their holes are not always perfectly
aligned, not always at the same place. The kind of carpenter that looks at
the grain of the wood, and allows the grain of the wood to help form the
finished product.
The kind of carpenter who, in a word, is more than _just_ a carpenter.
[ Insert a silent minute to contemplate the beaty of the world here. ]
Go back and read my original reply to this thread.
Really _understand_ the notion of two kinds of people.
And think about what kind of people you'd like to work with.
Linus
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Sep 15 2000 - 21:00:12 EST