Yesterday, Raymond pointed me to a post where someone was less than happy with me (no, I'm not going to link and I'm not going to explain any more than this). Also, Darrell also told us all on the CodeBetter Blogger's mailing list that someone argued with him about a post he made (I'm also not gonna link). Truth told the person arguing with Darrell didn't really understand Darrell's post; the commenter thought he understood something and decided that he should correct Darrell (it was a similar situation in my case as well).
I couldn't believe it. Darrell doesn't write like I do... I really try to put things into a perspective and ask people to think about the implications before totally "jumping into bed" with a particular technology (such as my recent AJAX post or my experts post from a while back); my goal is always not to say such and such is bad (sometimes I end up saying that though due to the arguing), but really to call us programmers to really think about our architecture choices and choose the right technology for the right job (this is my father's adage "use the right tool for the right job"). I know that I often choose a title that is a bit inflammatory, because I want you devotees to read the post (I want your attention... oftentimes so that you can answer a critical question, and gain more adoptees). Darrell usually speaks as one who has done research and is just reporting his findings with a bit of an opinion... it's usually mostly knowledge acquisition/retention (at least that's my opinion), so that's what made me realize that maybe this needed discussing.
When I wrote the experts post I was trying to attack a particular attitude that I see in commenters, and on some blogs. There are a lot of people out there who subscribe to what I now call "ICUI" which stands for "It's cool! Use it!" Whenever they see a particular technology -- that they are devoted to -- attacked (or that someone points out a valid question about when to use it), they immediately attack telling the writer what a freaking idiot he is and that he has no idea what he is talking about, and that his/her post represents FUD; they then begin to state the writer should adopt their technology and use it because it will make the writer's programming faster, easier, simpler, or less buggy.
Let me list a few technologies that have devotees who have classically done this (and I have done my share of ICUI):
OO (hey, I'm in this category... 00 Ru73z! And you should use it... no apologies on this one, but posts do fit in the ICUI)
C# (this typically states VB and all other languages that aren't C#/C++ are toy languages)
VB (yep, we VBers react so strongly that we sometimes misconstrue a criticism of VB as an attack on ourselves... we usually ask how does the IL look different from C#'s as if anyone can truly answer this question in all cases)
XP (Test-Driven, refactoring, etc.... not saying it's bad... just that sometimes there is an air of ICUI)
ORM vs. Templating vs. I build it all by hand (I've had my battles here... I'll leave it alone... I have too many bruises already)
AJAX vs postback (I've had some minor scrapes here too)
WebForm Vs. WinForms (pick a side and fight the other to the death! BTW, the alternative would be to logically look at both technologies and decide on a case by case basis)
Remoting vs. Web Services vs. Enterprise Services (once again pick a side and fight everyone else)
The truth is there is a place for all these technologies (well, except OO... you are using it right? ICUI! <grin />), and we need to try to establish times to use them (yep, I do believe there is a time and place for ORM and AJAX, BTW... Someday, I might actually tell you all what I think)
I think back to how I did an ICUI in the VB vs. C# arena... now that I know more about C#, I truly understand what the person I was attacking was saying... I honestly wouldn't build any .Net components in VB that I planned to give to the masses... there are too many compatibility issues... but then again I'm probably just spreading FUD.
I guess lately I have been getting a taste of my own medicine...
[PS. comments are on feel free to comment away]