Hand-code or no-skillz product?

[Deja Q]

E.g. frontpage or dreamweaver for making web sites?

[alfredo]

1. give NVU a try.

http://www.nvu.com/ I use it and like it.

[Deja Q]

2. Just downloaded; looks cool!

I have frontpage, but it's too IE-centric. And while MS continuies to add new features without conforming to set standards (particularly CSS), I refuse to upgrade. Fuck 'em.

Dreamweaver is ridiculously expensive, slower than snot on a doorhandle in January. Adobe bought them out, after whining and complaining about a patent. (by, of, and for the lawyers?)

A nice WYSIWYG inbetween would be great. NVU might be it.

[alfredo]

3. I built my anti bush posters site using NVU.

The price is right too.

[mainegreen]

4. I write web-based insurance apps.

WYSIWYG editors are utter crap for this. Me, I like Zend Studio. It's got that mostly notepad feel I demand, yet has all the pumped up on steriod features a good editor should have (code line breaks, variable watches, auto-complete, db-connections, decent project management, versioning control).

[Deja Q]

5. I pity you...

More and more jobs are becoming WYSIWYG-centric. (and being shipped to 3rd world countries ripe for exploitation by all the friends future terrorists we're making over there. Hell, they already have a war of words against the American people...)

I hear ya regarding proper programming; but more and more people - even with jobs in programming - seem to prefer such "visual" types of programming. :(

[Angry Girl]

6. Lack of training, laziness, and illiteracy

"Visual" programming is basically like those Mickey D cash registers with the buttons with icons of Big Macs and Super-Sized Fries. I bought something at a convenience store yesterday and the total was $2.98. I gave them $3 in dollar bills. It was a slow day but the girl had to think out loud what the change was supposed to be. She eventually have me back 3 cents.... *sigh*

My husband and I recently went back to school (film) and a frightful number of students might as well be illiterate, that's how scared they are of having to read and follow any kind of written instructions by themselves. They're only good at doing what they're told, with their hands held on a constant basis - except if they don't understand they won't ask! And if they're presented with anything "outside the box," they freak out, no lie. "You're allowed to do that?!?" seems to be the mantra.

Then these poor creatures eventually become managers and believe they can save their slave masters a few pennies with cheapo programmers to create company-wide databases or what-have-you. Except they're too uneducated to realize the cheapo programmer's work is an abomination and will cost the company much more in the long run. But the POS gets rolled out and the customers use it and settle for that level of mediocrity.

Now add in here communication and/or translation problems when one of the parties is foreign and you've got a perfect recipe for toasted shit on a shingle. (Hmm, I guess I don't miss IT at all, huh? LOL)

[Deja Q]

9. upper management tells the lackeys (lower mgmt) what to do.

And the lackeys care more about their jobs than the company. So they will demand what upper mgmt wants - lower costs, whatever.

I wonder what the illiterate pre-programmed folks did or didn't do to get that way... and they I pity infinitely more.

[mainegreen]

7. I'm not to worried about outsourcing,

what I do requires a ton of knowledge about insurance, and insurance is not the same everywhere in the world. Plus there is no way to WYSIWYG financial engines or any of the other data-based management insurance apps require. The interface is about 5% of the apps I write. However, I do deserve pity, as insurance is so boring. Soooo boring. :boring:

[Deja Q]

8. Relational databases...

One-button presses automatically bring up County X's codes and policies. Linked together by postal code.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Oh, anything can be done. It's a matter of short-term effort and long-term gain. On the surface, it may look complex. But look at what they've offshored already (your "free" credit report comes from India, isn't that nice to know? One terrorist who uses wits instead of bombs could do a hell of a lot more damage than what I care to want to think about... glad it hasn't happened. Yet.)

But if they can get rid of lots of 6-digit jobs, you bet your sweet bippy they've got somebody working on it. (and maybe for $2/hr too...)

[mainegreen]

10. Not quite! :) I've seen the result of outsource insurance apps..

It's an embarressment. Those apps usually end up hemoraging financial data all over the place. The trick is not in using the tools (as they are easy) but in designing your database and application logic correctly. A mis-coded or mis-designed engine can easily loose hundreds of thousands of dollars (I've seen it myself). There go all your savings in outsourcing.

Of course, there are bad programmers in this country too! :)