The difference is that we know there's something better than Java, C#, or C++ this time around. We have Typescript, Flow, Elm, Purescript, Haskell, Rust, OCaml, Idris, F*, Nim, Crystal, and more. Yes, some lessons have been forgotten that will have to be relearned, but on the whole we are improving. It's like how Andrew Whiles says[0] on how it's important to be forgetful to be a good mathematician:
> It goes like this. You try one strategy on a problem. It fails. You retreat, dispirited. Later, having forgotten your bitter defeat, you try the same strategy again. Perhaps the process repeats. But eventually—again, thanks to your forgetfulness—you commit a slight error, a tiny deviation from the path you’ve tried several times. And suddenly, you succeed.
I think we're a bit better than that, but it pays to remember it the next time you see the young whippersnappers publishing an NPM package doing the same thing you did years ago and deemed to be a failure. By all means, share the war stories with them - it's important we get better at appreciating history, but do it from a position of encouragement. They may yet succeed where you failed. :)
> It goes like this. You try one strategy on a problem. It fails. You retreat, dispirited. Later, having forgotten your bitter defeat, you try the same strategy again. Perhaps the process repeats. But eventually—again, thanks to your forgetfulness—you commit a slight error, a tiny deviation from the path you’ve tried several times. And suddenly, you succeed.
I think we're a bit better than that, but it pays to remember it the next time you see the young whippersnappers publishing an NPM package doing the same thing you did years ago and deemed to be a failure. By all means, share the war stories with them - it's important we get better at appreciating history, but do it from a position of encouragement. They may yet succeed where you failed. :)
- [0]: https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/09/20/the-state-of-bein...