"The right tools for the right job"

Dennis is readying a test for the students in his Java class today, so I volunteered to prep the pumpkins for carving to buy him a bit more time. Which is to say that I had ample time to reflect on the value of proper tools Even the El Cheapo plastic pumpkin-carving kits, with the trapezoidal spoons and the tiny saw-like knives, are a bona-fide revolutionary improvement than the serving spoons and ultra-sharp paring knives that did the job in my younger days. There's just no comparison.

"Where were these things when I was growing up?!" I demanded semi-rhetorically. "Awww, c'mon," retorted Dennis facetiously, "You can take your chances with cutting your fingers off like everyone else."

Good point. I'd been thinking merely of time and irritation saved. But providing the best available toolsets can have other (beneficial) consequences even beyond these. Trust the engineer-turned-programmer to appreciate that even more keenly than the writer-turned-programmer.