Opinionated Development

Opinions

I am a big fan of opinions. I hold my own quite strongly and I like others who hold their opinions based on experience and good sense. Opinionated development seems like a winner then, things which have been learned from experience becoming standard methodologies. Obviously, this is only really useful if you agree with the opinions of the creator. However, it really shines if you are inexperienced and looking towards others for good practice. Encouraging good practice is a worthy thing, it is often hard to find good information when writing software and it is impossible to avoid problems you are ignorant of.

Arguments

Obviously, there's a "but" in there somewhere... I do like opinions, I also quite like a good argument. I find having my opinions challenged good fun and also quite enlightening. The best people to challenge my opinions are those with different experiences to mine (as well as greater knowledge of the subject matter!). Whereas I may have avoided a technique due to inherent issues, others may have found ways of neutralising the issues rendering the technique useful again.

Communities

A possible pitfall that I see in opinionated development communities is that they will tend to attract like-minded developers. Penetrating discussions rarely occur between people who agree on a subject and there is a possibility of the community becoming dogmatic. Especially when junior developers learn their trade in this manner, with no direct experience of the value of other methods.

Just a thought...