Laying Off The LVP
As “AI” encroaches on software development. who’s the real Least Valuable Person to get the boot?
As software engineers pursuing our own strategies in the Grand Game, new technologies, methodologies, platforms, and tools come at us all the time — some with the refreshing feel of a gentle breeze, others with the terrifying force of a devastating category 5 hurricane.
I really liked the move from ed¹ to vi, for example, as being able to edit full screen mode on a terminal is just easier, as long as you have the required bandwidth².
If you’re old enough to remember green or amber screen monochrome monitors and when offices had anti-static carpets and raised floors to hide all of the network and power cables you’ll probably be smiling and nodding along.
Source control has always been there, and is indeed very necessary and quite wonderful in its most basic and concise implementation, but I do feel that evolution just needed to stop when we reached git as as advancement on SCCS. We never needed the eldritch horror of ClearCase or, to a lesser extent, the sheer arcaneness of Subversion.
I’d classify them as gentle, soothing winds. Nice to experience, a life enhancing thing, making things not just bearable but pleasurable.
