Simple Is Still Simple

Yes, contrary to the conventional state of technology and computer programming, simple is still simple.  Well, at least it should be.

Quite frequently I read different articles about programming in an attempt to maintain professional relevance.   Some are well written articles on good programming techniques.  Some are poorly written but the core material is still good.  Some are well written pieces about some fluff fad and then there are occasionally the poorly written article about some programming technique or library or concept  that has 'bad idea' written all over it.



Fad programming, that I call it, seems to be focused around unnecessarily abstracting a function or concept or algorithm.  The basic concept of abstraction is to simply provide a logical layer over a certain functionality in an effort to make the abstracted functionality easier to deal with , or more simple, or more logical or more robust.  Unfortunately much of this is subjective anymore.  Speaking as a programmer who has written in various assembly languages, I can honestly state that within those environments, abstraction can be the insulator between sanity and sitting in the corner mumbling something about pushing eAX before the XCHG.

Over the last few years it seems that abstracting functions and APIs seems to be a pass time for some; maybe a simple way to make a few bucks by building an abstraction, selling the hell out of it, then refactor that abstraction into yet another marketable piece of something that smells slightly like the inside of my dog house.

Just look at all the Java libraries and frameworks and ...  well...  everything.  Why?  There's money in Java and it is a handy buzz-word for marketing.

There is something I do a lot of in my position...  data management.  Very frequently I will be given a delimited file to load into SQL.  At this point, it is a simple yawn away from completion.  Throw a bit of code together start it running, get some coffee and an apple, when I sit back done, it's likely done.  I happened across an article this morning about something called Cinchoo ETL CSV Reader.  Really?  We need an abstraction for reading a CSV???  Seriously?

I need to find something to abstract to make a few bucks, that's what I think.