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by blackbrokkoli 430 days ago
I don't know. Career plans aside, to me, making software is a means to an end.

There is no inherent value to producing software, as there may be in producing car tires or bananas. The best software is no software.

And then who is the better programmer, the one who knows more about how to make software, or the one who knows more about what software to make?
3 comments
Tijdreiziger 430 days ago
Software is a craft.

There is an inherent value in programming, just like there is one in gardening, woodworking, producing art, or playing a musical instrument.

The value is in the joy that the activity brings. (Note that this tends to be a different kind of value than business value.)

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vinhcognito 430 days ago
To me, cars are a means to an end. And I can imagine a world without cars more easily than a world without software.

Do you imagine that we just somehow evolve capabilities beyond it? or do we eventually produce universally perfect software solutions and leave it at that?

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blackbrokkoli 430 days ago
It's not really about that.

If I hire you to make software for me, I don't really want software; I want a problem to go away, a money stream built, a client to be happy. Of course, that probably requires you to build software, unless you invent a magic wand. But if you had the magic wand, I'd choose it every single time over software.

Not so with food, furniture or a fancy hotels, where I actually want the thing.

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carlmr 430 days ago
If I had a magic wand to make you satiated, you wouldn't need food. If you're in it for the taste I will magic wand you some taste in your mouth. If I had a magic wand to give you a roof over your head, protection and a bed, you wouldn't need a hotel.

The magic wand argument doesn't make sense. Then you can also get everything else.

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carlmr 430 days ago
>The best software is no software.

Eh, I disagree. I like a lot of the software I'm using. There's inherent value to producing music with Ableton, cutting videos with Final Cut Pro, or just playing Super Mario for entertainment. Those are all more software than no software.

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esafak 430 days ago
You could argue that GenAI music creation is "no software". You say what you want and it magically appears.
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