Rapid Application Development, similar to classic Visual Basic and Borland Delphi. I remember being a college student and we can create GUI apps with relative ease.
Today, even electron is reserved for the experienced web dev. See roadmap.sh
I believed we've lost a lot when we transitioned from desktop apps to web and mobile apps and JavaScript won.
Even ActionScript was way ahead of JS during its time!
Low-Code tools like Retool allow you to do this. They have the same limitations though (like inflexible layouts that don't adapt to different screen sizes), which hurts especially on mobile.
There were similar low code/no code systems at the time, they were called “App Makers” or “App Generators”.
Something in the class of VB6 or early Delphi is not commonly available. Everything today is comparatively clunky and bureaucratic. They can do a ton more, but take a lot more effort to produce the first usable thing.
(Similar to the simplicity of old rom basics in micros is now unavailable. You can do a lot more, and more easily, but you can’t just 10 print “hello” / 20 go to 10
Responsive layouts for varying screen sizes dont exists in the 90s so its not a fair comparison. Responsive Web Design was coined only in 2010. And RAD apps arent tied to the database unlike Retool.
With RAD apps, the barrier to entry is low. You install the IDE from this thing called a CD-ROM, drag some components, add some code to make it reactive (Yes we have reactive components in 1998!). Compile and run.
If it were not for VB and Delphi, I wouldn't have kept my interest for programming. Mucking around with C on the command line took my teenage self only so far before losing any interest.
If I had free time and enough dedication I'd re-learn Pascal just to write desktop apps with Lazarus. Alas, that will probably never happen.
> Today, even electron is reserved for the experienced web dev. See roadmap.sh
I am a recent graduate, but I think UI development has always been hard, whether mobile, web or desktop. Web seems to have had the least barrier to _entry_ (because HTML and JS, I think).
I have had classmates who tried flutter tell that it's so much easier than doing the same thing on web. While it was UI builders then, UI-as-code is new trend. There are some exciting directions now too (Flutter, Jetpack compose, svelte with its first-class reactivity).
That and Macromedia Flash! I love how easy it is to make shapes and curves in Fireworks and Flash. Its an object-oriented UX. You click an object on screen, you'll get its visual and textual properties. You click the screen, you get your canvas properties. You can group, ungroup or do unions on objects. Layers are only secondary to objects, unlike Photoshop with its layer-oriented UX. Illustrator? I dont even know what the UI/UX is supposed to be, its just a mish-mash of tools.
Are you sure? Southeast Asia including the Philippines used to be part of Sundaland. Its even taught in the history books of the Philippines - that it was connected with present day Borneo.
So basically, when procrastinating, we tend to justify our inactions: just 1 more minute on Twitter, just one last scroll on my newfeed, lemme just check this subreddit really quick.
With reverse procrastination, you trick your brain into doing your intended task: Ok lemme just open Visual Studio Code and edit this one file then im good, I'll just change this one line of code, I'll just do 5 pushups then i'll stop. Then when you're on your 5th pushup, you say "surprise mr lazy pants, im actually doing 10!"
Once you get to do that one task, try to trick again your brain into doing another simple, easy task and before you know it youre in "the zone".
Maybe it depends on the person, but for me personally, it works pretty good.
Perhaps OP is asking for tools, but no amount of dev tools can help if you dont have the motivation to begin.
One thing you can try: actually stop after those 5 push-ups. Actually stop after editing that line of the code.
The idea is that I need to build tolerance for that task. If you keep at it, those 5 push-ups will become so easy that you will feel compelled to do more.
If it's not working, then there's another reason behind the resistance. Maybe what you're trying to do feels pointless. Try to notice your feelings and internal dialogue when you're trying to do that particular thing.
Or just make the task smaller and smaller. Can’t finish 5? Do 1! Too much? Just get on the floor and hold the position. This strategy can’t fail, as you can always reduce your goal (and next time have to reduce it less)
I agree and it's important, at the same time, not to trick yourself or push yourself. If you don't feel like doing more, don't. With time, you'll want to do more.
I usually have my current project opened in Visual Studio Code at a separate desktop, so I can just swipe right and start coding. If there is an easy task I can complete quickly(not a lot of thinking) to hook me in it is pretty efficient.
who says Twitter/HN doesnt constitute a context switch? In my experience, though very boring, sitting and waiting for the tests to pass is much more productive than even the slightest diversions. I believe this is due to focus and memory.
Interesting tip. Additionally, I believe attacking the cause of procrastination can be helpful in the long term. Just asking "Why do I need to check my Twitter feed?" and "Is it more important than the task I am currently tending to?" can go a long way in reducing procrastination.
I read this book on micro tasks by the guy that started the one pushup challenge. I have been doing pushups every day for over a year now. It takes a while to make it a habit, but it does work.
This may sound hurtful but hear me out - One thing worth mentioning why someone would not want to use PHP in 2020 is that a PHP programmer is looked down upon by other programmers.
And im saying this without hate or malice. I love PHP since I was a PHP dev from 5.2 - 7.0. I built PHP libraries and WordPress plugins that have helped many people. Ive since moved to Node because PHP jobs have dried up in my country.
PHP devs arent respected which is sad because we all belong to the same programming community. And PHP has contributed a lot to the proliferation of websites. At the end of the day programming languages dont matter to businesses as long as it gets the job done at a reasonabe cost.
In fairness the wheel has turned and node developers are seen as not respected. If you haven't moved to go/rust/serverless by 2018 the cool market has moved.
When I got started in 2000, php developers weren't as smart as perl developers. Then it was asp. No serious business would use php over asp. Java developers always had this attutiude but they were always treated as second class from c++ developers who were treated bad by c developers who were using a toy language compared to asm.
At some point 2006/2007 php became cool. But then the facebook movie came out and php was uncool again. Ruby on rails was better (unless you were twitter and wanted to scale). Then node. Go. Serverless.
PHP has always been anticool and looked down on. You need a strong sense of self to get involved.
As a fun, tongue-in-cheek project, someone should build a website with this timeline of languages going from cool to uncool.
For people who are busy with life and work, but who want to learn a new cool language, it would answer the question "what's the cool thing right now?". You look at the timeline, it's language X.
This also enables fun future oniony articles like "Go no longer cool", "Rust going the way of the dinosaur", "C++ is the new kid on the block", "Node.js is dead, long live X" etc.
Haters gonna hate. Node.js programmers are looked down upon too by go programmers. C programmers are an anachronism, haskell is for academic navel gazing etc. Small minds think their favorite language is the best because they can't see outside their own problem domain.
Languages are tools that suit different needs. Use the best tool for the job, pay attention to industry trends so you don't become a Cobol dinosaur with no job prospects. Switching to node is a good career move but it won't be your last. Node has incredible momentum and developer mindshare. You can accomplish a lot with it but node projects are difficult to maintain.
I look down upon people who look down upon people for their technology choices and would never willingly work with such assholes. Your point is irrelevant because those are people I have no interest in working with. To look down upon others (rather than a language) indicates that one is a complete idiot, asshole, and someone I'd rather not meet. Better those people self select out of my life when they hear php because they would clearly be a detriment to me and to anyone who isn't a moron like them. Not to mention unprofessional, naive, and arrogant.
As a non-American, don't vote Joe Biden if you want sweeping changes. Shouldve considered the other Democrats candidates. Youll end up with same status quo
And you complain about moving domain names.
God I hate web developers...