> You sure? Programming is an act of creation. Any [good] creative worker - artists, sculptors, novelists, potters, bakers, et al. would agree...
Yes, I'm sure. Being a painter is not about decorating your studio and choosing paints and paintbrushes. Being a sculptor is not about using the best chisels and rasps. Being a novelist is not about configuring your word processor. Being a potter is not about the selection of clay bodies and kiln accessories in your workshop. Being a baker is not about where you place your oven or what brand of mixing bowls you use.
It's surely true that any accomplished potter will have enough opinions about clay bodies, glazes, wheels, scrapers, and other tools to talk about all afternoon. But that's not what being a potter is about. 99% of potters have never made anything as beautiful or as useful as many of the pots that María Poveka Montoya Martínez coil-built from clay she dug up near her house and pit-fired with dried cow manure. She engaged with her tools, and I bet she would have yelled at you if you left one of them in the wrong place, but she wasn't defined by them.
I see what you're saying, sure, it's an good point about craft and creativity. The essence of any art or craft lies in the actual doing - in the painting, sculpting, writing, throwing pots, or baking bread - not in endlessly optimizing the tools or workspace. It's easy to get caught up in perfecting the setup as a form of procrastination or because it feels safer than actually creating. The real work happens when you pick up the brush, the chisel, the pen, or get your hands in the clay or dough. The tools matter far less than the practice itself.
But, at the same time, sometimes, and quite often, working on tools IS the craft itself.
Building, configuring and improving programming tools is literally programming - you're writing code, solving problems, thinking about abstractions and interfaces. Every script you write, every editor configuration you tweak, every workflow you automate exercises the same skills you use in your "real" work. Understanding how tools work (and building your own) deepens your understanding of systems, APIs, and software design.
So, in essence, working on your tooling could actually make a better programmer out of you. In fact, many great, well-known programmers do actively work and maintain their tools.
Yes, I'm sure. Being a painter is not about decorating your studio and choosing paints and paintbrushes. Being a sculptor is not about using the best chisels and rasps. Being a novelist is not about configuring your word processor. Being a potter is not about the selection of clay bodies and kiln accessories in your workshop. Being a baker is not about where you place your oven or what brand of mixing bowls you use.
It's surely true that any accomplished potter will have enough opinions about clay bodies, glazes, wheels, scrapers, and other tools to talk about all afternoon. But that's not what being a potter is about. 99% of potters have never made anything as beautiful or as useful as many of the pots that María Poveka Montoya Martínez coil-built from clay she dug up near her house and pit-fired with dried cow manure. She engaged with her tools, and I bet she would have yelled at you if you left one of them in the wrong place, but she wasn't defined by them.
That's what being a potter is about.
It's the same for programmers.