[mchaver]

> There should never have been an "artisan era".

Firm no. There should be and there will continue to be. Maybe for you all code is business/money-making code, but that is not true for everyone.

> We use computers to solve problems.

We can use computers for lots of things like having fun, making art, and even creating problems for other people.

> You get paid to get stuff done, period.

That is a strange assumption. Plenty of people are writing code without being paid for it.

[satvikpendem]

> Plenty of people are writing code without being paid for it.

This is rhetorically a non sequitur. As in, if you get paid (X) then you get stuff done (Y). But if you're not paid (~X), then, ?

Not being paid doesn't mean one does or doesn't get stuff done, it has no bearing on it. So the parent wasn't saying anything about people who don't get paid, they can do whatever they want, but yes, at a job if you're paid, then you better get stuff done over bikeshedding.

[techpression]

And to add to this, good artisanal code usually means it runs a lot faster, which means saving money and energy, and those are good things.

[satvikpendem]

It depends how much money and energy in the form of manhours were spent to write it in an artisan way in the first place. I've been in a lot of PR reviews where it was clear that the amount of back and forth we had was simply not worth it for the code we wrote.

I'm reminded of this: https://xkcd.com/1205/

[lxgr]

I think you're both right. There's a time and place for beautifully crafted code, but there's also a place for a hot mess that barely passes its own non-existing tests, and for anything in between.

Just don't bring an artisan to a slop fight.

[ModernMech]

> there's also a place for a hot mess that barely passes its own non-existing tests

For a long time that place has been "the commercial software marketplace". Let's all stop pretending that the code coming out of shops until now has been something you'd find at a guild craft expo. It's always been a ball of spit and duct tape, which is why AI code is often spit and duct tape.