Reference some nice IBM info: developerWorks Spaces – this is a nice succinct document describing the New Way ™.
Having been a web developing professional for nigh 11+ years (depending on what year you read this, clearly), I have been perpetrator, victim and critic of mixed up nature of coding for the web. As anyone with a history in this field can tell you there are many camps surrounding this nefarious ogre.
Lets meet the cast of characters:
Perpetrator – though clearly that’s a loaded label. I’m sure they don’t see themselves this way. They are just getting a job done. Probably, it’s a boring job they’ve done before almost verbatim. Code, Approve, Invoice, Next. I don’t slight these people, yet I do. They mix their PHP business logic into their presentation HTML like it was nothing. Some even defend this abomination. Well let me tell you, you suck! Maintaining or editing that code is a nightmare. If you never have to maintain code, you must make your customers hate you. You are not the bomb. You are the unbomb!
Victim – This is the graying code jockey in the corner. Most offices of any size have one. The effects of spaghetti code, incomprehensible documentation and bizarre standards have taken their toll on this brave soul. A moment of silence for those who languish in this purgatory. Boohoo.
Critic – The over-the-top evangelist that no doubt will raise their hand when the CTO asks if anyone would like to discuss anything at the IT quarterly meeting. What they ask about will be whatever is trendy. “When are we adopting linux – snicker”, “Can new apps be rolled out in Rails – snicker”. Very secure in their snickering and “pointed” questions, they laugh from their lofty MVC pedestal while mashing together web services in the blink of an eye. These people, unsurprisingly, also suck. I won’t expound on why, because I am in this camp, for better or worse.
