Very sensible commentary on software frameworks and the dichotomous debates that afflict them.

””” Using a lightweight, comprehensible framework is good, until you hit the limits of that framework and start pulling in lots more libraries to fill the gaps (the Sinatra/Cuba world). Using a heavyweight, complete library is good, until you start suffering from bugs caused by incomprehensible magic buried deep inside (the Rails world).

The underlying problem isn’t fashion, or bloat. It’s that software is very, very complex. Unless you’re doing hardcore embedded work in assembly language, you’re building a raft on an ocean of code you won’t read and can’t understand.

A friend of mine put it well once. He said that you should have deep understanding of systems one layer from yours (ie your frameworks), and at least a shallow understanding of things two or three layers away (operating systems, etc). “””

The last comment is similar to what I learned from the wisdom of Spolsky: Take control of one level below your primary level of abstraction.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9347318