The Schizophrenic State of Software In 2014

jfruh writes: "The current state of the world of software is going in two radically different directions. On the one hand, server-side software is maturing, with wide consensus on tools and techniques that can be used across platforms. On the other hand, client-side programming is an increasingly fragmented mess, with the need to build apps for the Web and for multiple PC and mobile platforms, all natively. But of course, the server and client sides have to work together to deliver what people actually want."

Comments

common platform

[Anonymous Coward]

If only we had some standardized, ubiquitous platform for delivering information and applications to all sorts of devices. A platform that permitted linking between apps in a sort of "web" instead of having everything be isolated and separate. A platform that didn't require approval or payoff of competing third parties. Man, I must be dreaming.

captcha: mourning

Be Thankful

[TrollstonButterbeans]

Programming is always going to be a mess and there will never stop being new platforms.

This is something to accept in an industry that is by definition always going to be on the bleeding edge of change.

It is part of the fun --- go back 30 years and it was mainframe vs. personal computer and IBM PC vs. Apple vs. Commodore --- in the 1990s hardware graphics acceleration and web browser and GUIs were the agent of change.

Ask if anyone thought Objective C or Java were going to be important programming languages on phones in 2005?

Re:Be Thankful

[Anonymous Coward]

Java was an important programming language on phones in 2005.

Schizophrenic

[uncle brad]

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Nothing New

[Akratist]

Programming always has been, and always will be, a mess. There is a reason that maybe two percent of the people in the world can actually do this work -- the other ninety-eight percent are sane and don't think like psychotics locked in the Red Bull factory.

Re:Adobe Air

[gaspyy]

I fail to see how AIR is a problem worse than Phonegap or what Chrome is offering right now as a wrapper over html5.

Making a cross-platform game is world of pain, especially when you're small.

I was able to make my chess game available on web, as a chrome app, as a native app for PC, Mac and Linux and for mobile on iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and phones, even the now-dying Blackberry Playbook. The game is quite complex but 99% of the code is cross-platform, there are very few platform-specific lines.

I've been considering porting it to HTML5 but the amount of work needed is too much for one man. The AI is straighforward (Javascript and AS3 are closely related), but porting the UI, the multiplayer code and then tweaking it to make sure it works with all major browsers is not something I'm looking forward to. With AIR I can keep my sanity and concentrate on features.

Re:What was the state of server side progamming?

[jythie]

Well, there is consensus if you ignore detractors within your own community. I have noticed that companies where a particular web developer culture is strong tend to hire people who agree with the current development teams and exclude those who do not, so you rapidly get clustering that feels like consensus, but is really just group think.

Deliberately missing browser features

[tepples]

Yes, you are dreaming. Operating system publishers leave features out of their browsers on purpose to push their proprietary native app platforms. Ever tried using WebGL, the Stream API, or with content types other than pictures and videos in Safari for iOS?

Re:Deliberately missing browser features

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Operating system publishers leave features out of their browsers on purpose to push their proprietary native app platforms.

Well, that and the fact that every technology in history that has attempted to offer native access and functionality to remote web sites has gone on to become one of the biggest Internet security problems of its generation.

Re:Deliberately missing browser features

[jellomizer]

What do you mean, this was the point of ActiveX. ActiveX didn't cause any security concerns.
It isn't like when someone is asked to accept to install something, they will just hit Yes, to get it out of the way.

The Web isn't a good way to do high performance computing. The good news is, most people don't need high performance.

PLEASE LOOK UP SCHIZOPHRENIA

[Yew2]

I so hate when people confuse it with multiple personality disorder. And so do I!