It's lovely having nice modern pipe and the kinds of rendering technology that we get in HTML5 but, to continue Steven's vintage computing analogy, actually using a sophisticated tool in a browser is just like a 3270 terminal. In a conversation about Google Apps with another Twitter friend, Steven J Vaughn-Nichols, it was mooted that when we're looking at tools like Google Apps or Microsoft's Office 365 "we're still in early – say CP/M-80 –days of getting the cloud right". It may not mean much, but it stops the unconscious flow of capability from you to the machine. Do it in a web browser and you're half a second a away from satisfaction. Press Ctrl+S to save in Visual Studio and it's done before you've moved your finger away from "S".
The latency – although small – is too significant. The problem is that in the first instance you just can't do that using a web browser.
To everyone I've ever done that to, I apologise.) This is full-on unconscious competence mode, man or woman and machine in harmony operating at peak efficiency. (This is why most developers hate it when you change their keyboard mappings. Most engineers fly around the controls on keyboard mode only.
Text editor vs ide software#
When a software engineer is working in the IDE (integrated development environment), they'll rarely use the mouse. All you have to do is stay awake and keep your eyes providing a stream of input. Your background "driving daemon" is actually driving the car. It's this process whereby you find yourself slamming on the brakes because the car in front has stopped suddenly you don't have to think about it. At this point you have attained something called unconscious competence - specifically, you are competent at the task but you no longer have to give it any conscious thought. After a while, the skills become second nature and you stop having to think. Nothing was natural or easy everything you did required conscious thought. Imagine the time that you first started to drive a car. While I think this point is obvious if you're considering an aeronautics engineer, or someone designing a processor, or an old-school "hands the metal" engineer, the point works for software engineers too. That individual is going to be right in there interacting with the materials.
Text editor vs ide series#
This counts for an old-school, "fingers to the metal" engineer working in a machine shop – he or she isn't going to be operating a precision lathe through a series of levers and pulleys. What you wouldn't see is engineers at terminals with vast screens peering into a web browser and operating their systems over something like HTML5 or even Citrix – because engineers need to be able to touch and feel their tools. (And none of this includes the cost of the software, which would be phenomenal at this level.) Likewise, walk into Intel or AMD and look at their integrated circuit design workstations, and you'll see some serious money spent on their kit. At that level of technical capability, you need the best equipment. I'd expect about £6,000 for each workstation in an operation like that. If you were to walk into a R&D lab at Boeing, what you would find is every member of their CAD engineering staff kitted out with the highest-quality equipment.
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