What's the biggest change you would like to see in computing/tech?

onlinepersona@programming.dev to Programming@programming.dev – 92 points –
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Probably less elitism. "Oh you build it in x language? Well that's a shit language. You should use y language instead. We should be converting everything to y language because y language is the most superior language!"

(If this feels like a personal attack, Rust programmers, yes. But other languages as well)

To people that really spend time in code, this banter is meaningless.

Well sure, it depends on the context. If it's a shitpost on /c/programmer_humor, whatever, meaningless banter.

If it's a serious question, (maybe for a beginner) asking how to do something in their language, and the response is "It would be a lot easier in y language" - I don't think it's particularly helpful

As someone who's quite vocal about my support for Rust, I can definitely see how it can go overboard.

But on the other end of the spectrum, saying that all languages are just as good or capable and it doesn't matter which one you use is definitely wrong. There are meaningful differences. It all comes down to what your needs are (and what you/your team knows already, unless you're willing to learn new stuff).

Yea, I kept my original comment language-agnostic (Just referring to it as y language) - but added the extra wink to Rust because generally they seem to be the highest offenders.

I have years of experience in loads of languages: PHP, Ruby, Java, Python, C#, C++, Rust - And that's probably how I'd order the level of elitism. PHP Devs know everything they're doing is shit - Python should probably be next in ranking of how shit they are, but they're not self-aware enough - (Sarcastic elitism aside here - )

Anyways, besides that - at the end of the elitism-spectrum there seems to be Rust. Someone like me says something about Rust in a general unrelated-to-Rust thread like this - and a Rust enthusiast sees it, and it would just devolve into a dumbass back-end-forth about how good Rust is

C'mon, a little bit of flexing is so nice.

But, I get what you're saying. I usually filter out this bullshit (because I'm a Rustacean myself 😜) but this doesn't mean that it is as easy for someone else as it is for me.

Rewrite it in Rust? No, no, no. Rewrite it in JavaScript because then it's portable /s

The cargo culting is always going to happen and turn into elitism. But it stems from real advantages of specific technologies, and sometimes you should actually consider that the tech you're using is irresponsible when better alternatives exist.