

Coding is Dead. Long Live the Coders - vj44
http://blog.openviewpartners.com/coding-is-dead-long-live-the-coders/

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mindstab
Seems a little naive. I don't think our OSs, device drivers, X engines for X
in [webbrowser, GUI, 3d engine, etc] will be just... done by front enders...

Chicken and egg: will "real coders" will make the last tool and die out to be
replaced by front enders forever more? Who will maintain the tools and make
them better.

This is silly

Better tools don't replace coders with front enders, they simply allow a
greater percent of the general population in the form of front enders to
participate at all in creation.

(also: comparing some excel plugin allowing python to the matrix brain
downloader seems.... unjustified)

~~~
einhverfr
But don't you get it? Eventually we will have operating systems which write
themselves and self-hosted front-end code generators!

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doktrin
This is one of the thinner pieces I've come across on the HN front page (as
was the linked article). I'm not usually one to over-emphasize qualifications,
but the author is making fairly bold assertions about an industry he is _at
best_ tangentially involved with.

"Professional Interest

Nick analyzes portfolio companies and their target markets to help them focus
on opportunities for profitable growth.

Experience

Prior to joining OpenView in 2011, Nick worked at Echo Bridge Capital, a
startup hedge fund in Boston. In his two years there, he analyzed prospective
and current investment opportunities in the Consumer Discretionary sector, and
helped write the quarterly investment letter."

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hkmurakami
This is one of the most nonsensical articles I've ever come across on the HN
front page.

Synopsis:

1\. Coding is dead (title)

2\. Front-end development is being democratized by higher level paradigms,
thereby obsoleting "coders" (defined loosely as those who code at the lower
levels of abstraction)

3\. BUT WAIT! Because programming has been made available to those who don't
have the most fundamental level of understanding of the craft, this in turn
liberates the low level guys to focus on stuff like optimizations,
scalability, or robustness.

Er, wait, how is coding _Dead_ again?

I'm assuming that these guys are investors in DataNitro, considering that both
the VC firm and the startup are located in Boston, and since the submitter
works at DataNitro.

I like DataNitro's product, I like the guys (whom I've talked to) at DataNitro
personally, but this article is quite senseless.

~~~
karamazov
We're not affiliated with the VC. I thought the article is an interesting
viewpoint from someone who isn't technical. It shows that there are tools
enabling him to do what he would have previously needed a programmer to help
him with.

We want to make DataNitro compelling not just for Python experts, but also for
Excel power users that have some basic programming knowledge (from using
formulas, if statements, vlookups, etc.). The article shows that we're
succeeding on this at least a little.

~~~
nickpetri
Yikes, I did not expect such strong opinions when I wrote this. Of course
building an OS will always require coding, my point was that more usable front
ends are replacing low-level coding projects. In the case of Zapier, instead
of cobbling together APIs or hiring someone to do the same, I can use a drag
and drop interface. Someone has to code for that to happen, but it isn't me
anymore.

"Coding is dead" is obviously hyperbole. It would have been more accurate to
call the article "Front end platforms are gradually replacing some light
projects that previously would have required coding" but that didn't fit, so I
went with the current title instead.

Like karamazov said, I'm not affiliated with DataNitro (except as a user),
IFTTT, Zapier, or FRAPI, so please don't confuse my opinions with any of
theirs. We are affiliated with Monetate, as I stated in the article, but I
have no idea what they think of the article (and they probably disagree as
much as everyone else seems to).

~~~
hkmurakami
Thanks for taking the time to clarify your (non) affiliation with DataNitro. I
apologize for my misunderstanding and appreciate you coming in to correct my
errors.

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dromidas
LOL this article starts out talking about writing excel macros.

Who does he think creates excel... or the os it runs on. It seems like the
author is meaning script monkeys or something. The guys who take real
applications' outputs and does whatever those guys do with them... not actual
developers.

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johngalt
As soon as everyone learns to write there will be no need for writers.

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drcube
On the one hand, assembly developers are just assembler end users. If you
don't directly manipulate the silicon, you're only a plumber.

On the other hand, ifttt and excel are both programs for crunching
information, same as a compiler. They're not as powerful or expressive, but
that's no more of a constraint than a limited kitchen is to an enterprising
chef. Just because you don't use the same tools they had in the past doesn't
make you a poser.

Programmers make machines out of logic. You can tackle hard problems or easy
problems at any level of abstraction. Whether you're good or bad doesn't
depend on what tools you use, but what you create.

~~~
humbledrone
I agree with you for the most part, but if you give a chef a kitchen with no
knives, that's going to put some severe limits on what he can cook. Of course
it's possible to create some excellent dishes without a knife, but there are
some dishes that are just plain uncookable.

And it does matter very much what tools you use -- one of the defining
features of a masterful craftsman is that he knows exactly which tools to use
for a particular job. Sure you can flip those fried eggs with a spoon, but it
will be easier to use a spatula, and they'll come out better to boot.

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danielvinson
That is the most obnoxious site I have ever been to. I closed the window after
having to close two Popups to continue reading.

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hk_kh
"As far as we know, stupid smoke internet spam journalism is dead, as social
media driven machine learning algorithms would probably make up better
articles than BA in Economics and Politics"

