Angular is being adopted by a lot of enterprise-y / small business shops, specifically because it can be used (just like typical enterprise code) to have "coders" who don't know how to code, write software.
What's that, you've never used javascript before? Don't worry, just write this one directive, and we'll have someone else test it in UAT. There, now the most harm that dev can do is isolated to one behavior on a page.
So I read this post as an indictment against that style of coding, and for someone who just escaped enterprise consulting, it rings true.
Because the truth is, between jquery / react / backbone / npm and the basic js module pattern, you really don't need angular. Angular just provides a consistent framework for people who don't want, have time, or skill to write an organized front end on their own.
And considering how fast angular is taking over the shops I've seen, the 'you killed it' message might not be so far off.
Angular is being adopted by a lot of enterprise-y / small business shops, specifically because it can be used (just like typical enterprise code) to have "coders" who don't know how to code, write software.
I've heard this claim applied to a lot of technologies, but in the five years I spent in the enterprise software world, I never once saw it happen. People might try to have non-coders write code. For about five minutes. It never lasts longer than that.
What you do see, on the other hand, are a bunch of uninspiring programmers who will find a way to write strictly procedural code in any language or framework.
edit: just realized this might have been a communication problem. I meant coders that have the resumes of programmers, but are specifically hired cheap because they aren't actually programmers, just people reaching for the salary. The kid right out of college with some vb skill. 80 people on visas from some Indian contracting company.
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Definitely depends on the level of quality of the enterprise shop. When I was doing consulting, part of the new employee hiring process for a new developer at the client site was to open a Microsoft support ticket to help the "dev" install visual studio.
Gotcha. Makes sense that it's just a terminology problem. How uninspiring does a programmer have to be before you can no longer call them a programmer? :)
If you claim .Net programming skills, being able to install visual studio might be a good first step : D
As for a serious answer? Who knows. That said, I know some people dislike eric raymond, but I still keep a warm feeling in my heart for http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html, if only because its one of the first things I stumbled upon way back.
I disagree: coders who don't know how to code won't be using Angular, they'll be chopping-and-paste JQuery all over the place (assuming an application of significant size/scope)
I'm not disqualifying your post, actually. Directives are pretty horrific to write (I prefer KnockoutJS's bindingHandlers because they are so simple), but I am disagreeing that frameworks are necessary in a large codebase with lots of developers working on them. And that people's codebases are worse off for using Angular than a free-for-all nothing at all. (This comment particularly was directed at the fact that Angular actually has a lot of challenging concepts for your average web developer.)
I agree with both of your points. I was also attempting to point out that large companies with sub par programmers also use specific frameworks as a crutch in order to put boxes around how much of a code base a particularly inept programmer can screw up simultaneously. Angular lends itself to that in the js space.
It's more than "coders who don't know how to code", it's also managers who don't know how to read code or review diffs. Sadly, there are lots of experienced coders whose planning horizon stops as soon as the code works i.e., they don't maintain code or think in those terms as long as it's working. This is often why shops use these overreaching frameworks.
Systems administration is no different, which is why so many servers are now either straight-jacketed in OS packages + chef/puppet/ansible or such a mess they're the equivalent of spaghetti code.
IMO this is fundamentally a failure of higher education (EE/CS, IS ...).
What's that, you've never used javascript before? Don't worry, just write this one directive, and we'll have someone else test it in UAT. There, now the most harm that dev can do is isolated to one behavior on a page.
So I read this post as an indictment against that style of coding, and for someone who just escaped enterprise consulting, it rings true.
Because the truth is, between jquery / react / backbone / npm and the basic js module pattern, you really don't need angular. Angular just provides a consistent framework for people who don't want, have time, or skill to write an organized front end on their own.
And considering how fast angular is taking over the shops I've seen, the 'you killed it' message might not be so far off.