There's something I call manic-depressive programmer syndrome. It used to occur ... | Hacker News

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Tloewald on Aug 19, 2013 | parent | context | favorite | on: Notch puts 0x10c on ice

There's something I call manic-depressive programmer syndrome. It used to occur infrequently, but -- I think -- because tools have gotten so much better (everything from the quality and speed of compilers and class libraries to the speed of hardware) it's becoming more common. We get a fantastic 1.0 product that never gets followed up. At best you see bug fixes and updates, but the extraordinarily promising core never gets expanded.

I'll cite some examples:

* TextMate

* Silo 3D

* The Hit List

* Hypercard

Each of these is characterized by being developed by a very small team (sometimes one person), being extraordinarily impressive out of the starting gate, and never developing to its full potential.

dangoor on Aug 19, 2013 | [–]

"The Second System Effect" is at play in at least some of these cases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect

pekk on Aug 19, 2013 | [–]

I heartily disagree that it used to occur infrequently. It has occurred as long as people have been programming.

Tloewald on Aug 19, 2013 | [–]

You're probably right, but I don't have examples to hand.

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