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The Impact of the 'Programmers' vs. 'Users' Distinction on Agency and the Success of Spreadsheets

By

todsacerdoti

11mo ago· 4 min readenOpinion

Summary

The article discusses the negative impact of the distinction between 'programmers' and 'users' on agency, highlighting the success of spreadsheets due to their immediate feedback system. It emphasizes the concept of malleable software and vine-like systems in Excel.

Key quotes

· 3 pulled
The modern distinction between 'programmers' and 'users' is evil and destroys agency.
Spreadsheets are hugely successful. Felienne Hermans attributes this success to their immediate feedback system and continuous deployment model.
Rik calls Excel 'malleable software' and the resulting programs 'vine-like systems'.
Snippet from the RSS feed
writing programs should be no harder than writing a resume

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