I think the biggest difference between software maintenance and maintenance of most physical objects is that physical maintenance is calming, tactile and pleasant.
A lot of folks don't think this way. I do, but I know many who don't so it's important to remember that, especially when trying to make systemic judgements on fields of industry.
Fair point. I've not met many people who are actually excited by this stuff, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
I may be a little bit biased in this area as I had to spend a lot of time dealing with a build system that my company had rolled themselves, with one maintainer that spent his entire week just putting out fires, all while under high pressure from deadlines and also external pressure from home eviction, wedding, side businesses).
I just cannot relax or have fun when dealing with WiX or qmake failures or dependencies disappearing.
Right - whereas I find this the most exciting series of things I get to do, by far. It's always a game of hunt the wocket - especially when you're trying to not just hack a solution together.
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A lot of folks don't think this way. I do, but I know many who don't so it's important to remember that, especially when trying to make systemic judgements on fields of industry.
Fair point. I've not met many people who are actually excited by this stuff, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
I may be a little bit biased in this area as I had to spend a lot of time dealing with a build system that my company had rolled themselves, with one maintainer that spent his entire week just putting out fires, all while under high pressure from deadlines and also external pressure from home eviction, wedding, side businesses).
I just cannot relax or have fun when dealing with WiX or qmake failures or dependencies disappearing.
Right - whereas I find this the most exciting series of things I get to do, by far. It's always a game of hunt the wocket - especially when you're trying to not just hack a solution together.