I Blame My Tools

Computer science was one of the things I studied a long time ago in school. We learned how well-chosen algorithms can operate on well-chosen data structures to achieve powerful results. The work is highly conceptual and rather intuitive - like calculating differential equations, it relies more on a flash of inspiration, of being able to see the problem in the right way, than on methodically "turning the crank". There are no good algorithms to generate good code.

That maybe described computer science, but it describes only a very small part of the day to day work of computer programming. The reality of computer programming, at least for me, is that most of my time is spent wrestling with tools and technologies that don't do what they're supposed to. Metaphorically speaking, I don't get to envision graceful bridges and soaring skyscrapers; instead I futz around with a load of concrete that won't set, my lumber delivery is delayed till next week, and the extension cord doesn't reach from the outlet to my power saw.

I'm trying to do a little bit of programming work today. I use the Eclipse programming editor. Somehow the shortcut I use to start multiple instances of Eclipse on the Mac got turned back into a plain text file - I have no idea how. I got that sorted after half an hour or so. Now I want to build my project but I can't because someone added a dependency on another module of code that I don't have. I downloaded that, and built it, but in so doing I triggered some sort of version check and now it's complaining that my version of Maven, the build tool, is impermissibly out of date. (That Maven versions matter at all is a sign that Maven is trying to do way too much.) So now I need to download and install a new version of Maven. This is what my day has been like, all day long.

I know, it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools. But I blame them anyway.

Follow-up: my command-line tar utility (the Mac equivalent of "unzip") won't recognize the format of the Maven download file. Finder won't let me copy the files to the directory they need to go in; I don't have permissions. On my own machine.

Follow-up #2: I used sudo to let me copy the files. I used diff to see if the settings file had changed. It shows me that every line is different in some mysterious way that is not evident from looking at the files - perhaps the line endings changed between Windows and Unix style? Anyway, ignoring that, I then futzed around trying to change my old symbolic link for Maven to point to the new copy. That took a bunch of googling because I don't know how to create and delete links on Unix. All this is just so that I can run the build tool, to build the project that the changes I'm supposed to be working on will affect. I haven't even begun to actually do the work I'm supposed to be doing. It's quarter till 5.