why do programmers hate web development

I was self-teaching web development during Undergrad in an effort to learn stuff outside of the class-room. It seemed like a great idea since I get to share my creations with the rest of the world.

However, developing websites (Front-end development, to be precise), I realized, is a pain in the bum if you want to do it professionally. Here’s why:

Firstly, JavaScript is kind of messed up. Unlike strongly-typed languages such as Java, it tries its best not to stop you from doing something which other languages would prohibit. As a result, it yields some very awkward outcome. Moreover, I started out coding with Java, so prototypal inheritance was very bizarre to learn.

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Secondly, there’s the whole “framework debate” and the “forever learning loop” thing.

“Oh, you just learned HTML? Nobody codes directly in HTML anymore, mate. You gotta use JSX!”

“CSS won’t do! Learn SASS or LESS!”

“I know you can use Vanilla JavaScript to make a simple to-do list, but learn and use React, will you? Everybody else is doing it! We gotta stay modern!”

Basically, the technology and tools change rapidly and abruptly. You have to be constantly learning all the time in order to stay relevant.

This article by Jose Aguinaga, “How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016”, does a brilliant job elucidating this issue. Plus, it’s flipping funny!

Finally, creating things for the web with cross-browser compatibility in mind isn’t exactly the most satisfying thing to do!