
The origins of opera and the future of programming - fanf2
https://the-composition.com/the-origins-of-opera-and-the-future-of-programming-bcdaf8fbe960
======
commandlinefan
> it’s easier to build your own than to gain an understanding of React.

And, in today’s corporate how many story points did you complete this sprint
“what have you done for me lately” panopticon culture, building your own looks
like productivity, gaining an understanding looks like slacking - a fireable
offense. Supposed tech labor shortage or not, few of us have the luxury of
looking unproductive regardless of what we’re actually accomplishing.

~~~
iliaznk
Oh, come on... Is React really that hard to understand? It's one of the
simplest libraries I know. I was a self-taught web dev with only about a year
(though, quite an extensive year) of JS/jQuery experience when I switched to
React. I had never worked with a JS framework before and I knew I was going to
need one for my next project, and for some reason I chose the new (at that
time - early 2014) React, rather than the established Angular. And after going
through the official tutorial everything went so smooth I was amazed by the
power of React.

~~~
commandlinefan
> Is React really that hard to understand?

Beats me, I've never tried to learn it - it was the author's example of a
framework that's harder (or appears to be harder) to learn than to just
reimplement from first principles. Replace "React" with something that does
fit that description if you like. Unless you think there is no such thing?

~~~
iliaznk
Well, I guess there sure must be something hard to learn, but is rolling your
own easier? I really doubt that. Or why then we don't see a thousand of
frameworks in other languages? Are there no hard to learn frameworks written
in them? I believe people set out to write a new framework because those that
exist do not meet some certain criteria of theirs.

And just to imagine somebody lacking ability to comprehend something while
having an ability to implement their own... Sounds weird.

~~~
imnotlost
I've rewritten fairly large systems and re-integrated them faster than I could
ever have understood the original code.

I don't think React is in that category though, I think the concepts are
understandable, the documentation is good, and StackOverflow is helpful.

I implemented a small React app while learning it which is in production and
running just fine.

~~~
commandlinefan
Yeah, that’s definitely true of established, in-house, undocumented, partly-
working code bases.

------
drewmassey
I mean a real connection between the history of opera and programming is the
conflict between opera as a courtly art (Eric Raymond’s “cathedral”) and its
life as a public spectacle (“the bazaar”). There is an excellent essay by
Richard Taruskin title “the history of opera from Monteverdi to Monteverdi” in
his Oxford History of Western Music. Even if you aren’t a musicologist a read
of the intro might reveal some analogies...

------
QuercusMax
I think the article is mistaken about the meaning of the word 'descant'. It's
primary meaning is 'an independent treble melody usually sung or played above
a basic melody', which would make sense for a renowned singer to reference!

------
smsm42
Side note: the audio-course mentioned in the article
([https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Listen-to-and-
Understand-G...](https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Listen-to-and-Understand-
Great-Music-3rd-Edition-Audiobook/B00DDVQIM2)) is probably the best Teaching
Company courses I've ever heard (and I heard a bunch) and is highly
recommended to anyone. I wasn't a big aficionado of classical music and opera
before, and I am still not an opera regular now, but it expanded my education
about what happened in that world and where things come from immensely. And
Robert Greenberg's presentation is just excellent.

------
pjmlp
I read all these nice articles, but the fact is most companies couldn't care
less specially if their business area isn't selling software.

All these years after the agile manifesto, and the ideas are still the
exception, not the rule.

~~~
zengid
>> _All these years after the agile manifesto, and the ideas are still the
exception, not the rule._

Are you saying agile is the exception?

~~~
pjmlp
Yes, in many companies it degenerates into some kind of cherry picked items
from talks that looks agile on the surface, but it is as waterfall as ever.

~~~
zengid
Maybe management just feels that waterfall is more tractable and easier to
control. I feel like a good scrum-master has to subside their ego a bit to let
the programmers write and bid tasks without intervening.

