Month: December 2014

Breaking my “no tech posts” habit, Jimmy Breck-McKye has a notable article about on the state of JavaScript in 2015:

Innovation is great, but this kind of churn rate seems excessive. It’s just not possible for developers to make large, upfront investments of time in getting to grips with new frameworks and technologies when there’s no guarantee of their longevity. Programmers want to program – they want to build things, and be masters of their craft. But how can we get anything done when we’re spending most of our time learning? How can we feel like craftsmen when we’re scrabbling in the dark with unfamilar tech?

[…]

• The churn rate of front end JavaScript technologies is problematic
• People are starting to feel burned out and alienated by the pace of change
• The answer might be to eschew monolithic frameworks in favour of microlibraries

I was feeling burned out by this explosion of technologies last year. I don’t think the landscape has got any better since then; in fact, the Angular 2.0 roadmap has probably forced more people to confront the situation.

A few months ago I booked a ticket for the New Pornographers at Melkweg this evening, but I’m not going to go. I don’t like wasting an opportunity to see a band I like, but:

• I’m tired and not feeling great. In fact, the whole household is under the weather. Alex is worst off, but we’re all having a pyjama day.
• I don’t particularly like their new album.
• Dan Bejar is on the European leg of the tour, but Neko Case isn’t.
• The last time I saw them live was pretty mediocre.
• It’s cold, dark, and really wet.

I always find live music uplifting and invigorating, so that is an argument in favour of going out. Staying in and moping around instead of going out and indulging my passions is a depression warnings sign…but I’m not feeling depressed, and I’m not just avoiding doing things I enjoy. Yesterday evening we had a home cinema double bill of The Terminator and Shaun of the Dead, and I quite fancy watching Terminator 2 as a follow-up this evening. Either that or getting started on Assassin’s Creed: Unity or settling in for an evening of space trucking in Elite.

It’s not just a matter of staying home and conserving spoons: there are a bunch of other fun, positive things that I actively want to be doing more this evening.