Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians. But unlike most artists, he had a cavalier attitude toward his equipment. He would pawn his saxophone for drug money and show up for a concert without an instrument. He assumed that he could always borrow a saxophone at the last minute. He even used a plastic saxophone for one concert. Parker could take a cheap piece of plastic and make it sound good.
Good equipment helps. I’ve played cheap saxophones and professional quality saxophones, and I much prefer the latter. But a good sax didn’t make me sound like Charlie Parker, nor did a cheap sax make Charlie Parker sound like me. A poor craftsman blames his tools.
For centuries people have searched for the secret of Stradivarius violins. What did Antonio Stradivari do to create his legendary instruments? Was there something special about the wood he used? Something special about the varnish? A new theory says that there was nothing unusual about the materials he used and that he simply did excellent work.
It’s hard to think of a worse programming environment than DOS batch files. But I worked with someone who was able to do amazing things with batch files.
Hugh MacLeod calls it “hiding behind pillars” when you think you must have the best tools before you can work. He summarizes hiding behind pillars this way:
The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would SERIOUSLY surprise me.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Iftikhar 12.17.09 at 05:55
Hi John,
“But I worked with someone who was able to do amazing things with batch files.”
but how much effort did he expend in doing this?
Would it just not be better if that same person had switched to better tools (if available) and done the same amazing things with better tools with less effort?
Quality of tools makes a difference.
John 12.17.09 at 07:54
I understand your comment about using batch files. This kind of thing could be a stunt, going to great effort to avoid using the right tool for the job. But in this case, the developer I mentioned primarily developed C++ applications. Automation wasn’t his main job. But when he needed to do some automation he took a tool he already knew and solved our problem quickly and elegantly.
EastwoodDC 12.31.09 at 11:32
One of my hobbies is painting. When I started a could not tell the difference between low and high quality paints and brushes, but as my skills improved I found there really is a difference if you are skillful enough to take advantage of it. The best of materials do not help without the skills and craftsmanship to make best use of then, and the same should certainly apply to programming.
PS: Charlie Parker’s plastic saxophone is on display at the Kansas City Jazz Museum, a wonderful place to visit should you get the opportunity.