How do you do, fellow web developers? A growing disconnect

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Perceived Disconnect Between Generations of Web Developers

  • Many older devs feel “out of sync” with newer devs’ mental models: e.g., “API” assumed to mean HTTP+JSON, “framework” and “API” assumed to be web-only.
  • Some see this as cyclical “kids these days” nostalgia; others argue the gap is deeper because modern environments hide fundamentals far more.
  • Several note that early experiences (C64, 286, dial‑up, telnet) naturally exposed the stack; today’s phones and high-level stacks don’t.

APIs, HTTP, and REST Terminology Drift

  • Older participants emphasize that APIs also mean in-process libraries, drivers, DLLs, etc., not just network endpoints.
  • Widespread misuse of “REST API” to mean “RPC over HTTP with JSON” is criticized; HATEOAS is rarely implemented.
  • HTTP is defended as ubiquitous, performant enough, and well tooled; critics say this misses non-network API design.

HTML, Forms, and Static Sites vs SPAs and Frameworks

  • Many report professional devs unable to build basic HTML forms or static pages without React; some teams consider a simple link a “day of work” due to component complexity.
  • Advocates argue lots of apps can be fast, accessible, and maintainable with HTML, CSS, minimal JS, and form submits; cite htmx, Turbo/Stimulus, static site generators.
  • Opponents warn static‑first can become a “one-way street” when product later demands SPA‑style assistants, animations, and persistent state.
  • Others counter with YAGNI: design for current requirements and accept refactoring later instead of preemptive complexity.
  • Debate over whether most SPAs actually deliver better UX, given load times, broken browser conventions, and fragile client state.

Hiring, Education, and Abstraction Levels

  • Market strongly rewards framework experience (React, etc.), so juniors rationally prioritize that over fundamentals like HTML semantics or filesystem basics.
  • Bootcamps and “video-first” learning are seen as producing productive developers who can ship features but often lack deeper understanding (DNS, paths, non-web CS concepts).
  • Some companies explicitly hire for framework‑free, HTML/CSS‑first skills, but this is portrayed as rare.

Performance, Resources, and Low-Level Knowledge

  • Older devs lament that many no longer think about memory usage, cache locality, or clock cycles; others reply that for much of web dev those concerns aren’t career‑relevant.
  • Embedded and constrained environments still demand low-level skills; some self‑taught devs study C and struct layout for personal growth.

Tooling, IDEs, and Developer Experience

  • Some dislike increasingly “busy” IDEs with inline hints, auto-pairing, and aggressive autocomplete, finding them disruptive to flow and muscle memory.
  • Others appreciate modern tooling and frameworks for making complex apps and testing easier, arguing there’s no conspiracy—just productivity and economics.