Comments on: Carpenter or Sculptor?

By: Daniel Hofstetter

Daniel Hofstetter — Sat, 05 May 2007 07:48:23 +0000

Sure, the article paints a bit a black and white image even though in reality there exist many gray tones. I don’t think that developers are “better” than programmers, they simply have other strengths (and weaknesses). The programmers strength is usually the implementation of “something” in code, whereas the strength of a developer is more the analysis and design of “something” than its implementation.

By: Chris Hartjes

Chris Hartjes — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:14:47 +0000

@Daniel: While that article is an interesting read, it also makes “programmers” out to be idiots and “developers” out to be some sort of genius. This idea that “programmers play and developers work” smacks of so much elitism that I don’t know where to start.

Everyone starts out as a “programmer” and becomes a “developer” over time. I’d say I’m 2/3 developer and 1/3 programmer right now. Still like new technologies enough that I tend to try and use new ones, but I’m vastly improved at taking the time to think about what it is I’m actually doing and try to keep the amount of “busy work” to a minimum. It’s an art, not a science.

By: Daniel Hofstetter

Daniel Hofstetter — Fri, 04 May 2007 06:50:00 +0000

I think what you describe here are the differences between programmer and developer. See also http://www.hacknot.info/hacknot/action/showEntry?eid=90 for a good article about this topic.

By: Pacifists

Pacifists — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:39:23 +0000

The worst part of it is when the person saying: who wrote this shit – is you.

By: enygma

enygma — Thu, 03 May 2007 16:28:38 +0000

I like to think I try to start things out as a Carpenter – planning the overall structure of the application and getting some of the pieces in place. Unfortunately, somewhere in the middle I look up and there’s this huge slab of code sitting in front of me, begging to be hacked away at.

Of course, there’s never time for that in the middle of a project (never seems to be enough time for anything really) so the code sits and waits. It’s a Venus De Milo waiting for someone to come along and give it the arms it’s been missing. Usually, this comes along when someone – usually not the original developer of the app – comes in and needs to change something. Then, we hear the real cry of the Carpenter:

“Who wrote this piece of crap?”

By: Chris Hartjes

Chris Hartjes — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:55:15 +0000

@Tarique: I think the carpenters vs. sculptors argument is also one of perception vs. reality. Sculpters will bang out a large body of code and then slowly whittle away at it until they get it the way they want. It looks like “busy work” at times, while the carpenter starts small and builds up to the application. Can you change the way your brain is wired to develop applications? That`s a good question.

By: Tarique Sani

Tarique Sani — Thu, 03 May 2007 05:42:56 +0000

Sadly today’s commercialized market needs more carpenters than sculptors. Hiring sculptors is a risky proposition.

By: Pacifists

Pacifists — Thu, 03 May 2007 04:12:30 +0000

Very interesting approach to the coding habits and indeed very clear:) At the moment you’ve got me in trouble, because I can’t figure out which type I am – maybe something in between.