> Eventually, tools and processes will become standardized to the point that true mass production is possible.
I like to think that. However, to strain the programming-as-craft analogy (which I think is a good one), I don't think we're yet at the point where we even have a good selection of well-made hand-crafting tools yet.
We've probably got the equivalent of a reasonable axe, hammer, and nails by now (matching these to current day compilers/linkers, interpreters/vms, and editors/IDEs is left as a futile exercise for the reader) and we might have the vital core of some other tools, but I don't think we have well made selection of saws, planes, drills/bits, squares, clamps, levels, etc... yet. We're getting there, fast, but considering the craft is only about 170 years old[0] we just haven't been at it that long.
[0] Starting in 1843 with Ada Lovelace's method of computing Bernoulli numbers on Babbage's Analytical Engine.
I like to think that. However, to strain the programming-as-craft analogy (which I think is a good one), I don't think we're yet at the point where we even have a good selection of well-made hand-crafting tools yet.
We've probably got the equivalent of a reasonable axe, hammer, and nails by now (matching these to current day compilers/linkers, interpreters/vms, and editors/IDEs is left as a futile exercise for the reader) and we might have the vital core of some other tools, but I don't think we have well made selection of saws, planes, drills/bits, squares, clamps, levels, etc... yet. We're getting there, fast, but considering the craft is only about 170 years old[0] we just haven't been at it that long.
[0] Starting in 1843 with Ada Lovelace's method of computing Bernoulli numbers on Babbage's Analytical Engine.