New chapter: Shortcuts

content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ template = "section-contentless.html"
 		* [The Magic Number Seven, Plus Or Minus Two](magical-number-seven)
 		* [Cognitive Cost Is The Readability Killer](cognitive-cost)
 		* [Learn The Basics of Functional Programming](functional-programming)
+		* [Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run](understand-shortcuts)
 	* Testing Software
 		* [Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder](integration-tests)
 		* [Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code](tests-dead-code)

content/books/things-i-learnt/functional-programming/index.md

@@ -65,4 +65,4 @@ more robust code.
   you end up with random values based on the seed, so even there it is a pure
   function.
 
-{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/cognitive-cost", prev_chapter_title="Cognitive Cost Is The Readability Killer", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests", next_chapter_title="Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder") }}
+{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/cognitive-cost", prev_chapter_title="Cognitive Cost Is The Readability Killer", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/understand-shortcuts", next_chapter_title="Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run") }}

content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md

@@ -72,4 +72,4 @@ of moving parts.
 [^2]: Again, it's pure feeling from my experience. I have no data to back that
   affirmation up, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
-{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/functional-programming", prev_chapter_title="Learn The Basics of Functional Programming", next_chapter_title="Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code") }}
+{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/understand-shortcuts", prev_chapter_title="Shortcuts Are Nice, But Only In The Short Run", next_chapter_title="Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code") }}

content/books/things-i-learnt/understand-shortcuts/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
++++
+title = "Things I Learnt The Hard Way - Shortcuts Are nice, But Only In The Short Run"
+date = 2019-07-08
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["en-au", "books", "things i learnt", "frameworks"]
++++
+
+A lot of languages/libraries/frameworks add a way to make things shorter,
+reducing the number of things you need to type.
+
+But, later, that will bite you and you'll have to remove the shortcut and do
+the long things.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+Frameworks and libraries -- and even some languages -- come with "helpers" for
+most boilerplate things. Instead of typing the same 5 lines of code over and
+over, you can use a simple function; instead of writing the function with 5
+parameters, you can skip a bit and use another one with just one. Or you could
+just add a simple macro expansion on top of your struct/class and it would
+complete all the missing points.
+
+Don't get me wrong, they are great.
+
+But you must understand what the macro/function is hiding from you. 'Cause
+sooner or later, you'll find a case where it doesn't have a perfect fit and
+you need to change just a small detail. And then you'll start running in
+circles 'cause, well, how the hell the macro/function did _that_?
+
+I've bitten before by [Spring](http://spring.io/) and
+[Serde](https://serde.rs/) 'cause I started with the shortcuts without
+understanding what they were doing. And then I got a problem which the
+shortcut wouldn't solve, requiring me to go deep into the documentation. And
+because I skipped a few steps and jumped straight into the shortcut, it took
+me awhile to actually get _what_ I needed to do different from the shortcut to
+solve my problem: I had no idea what the shortcut did and, thus, I had no idea
+what I needed differently from the shortcut to solve my problem.
+
+{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/functional-programming", prev_chapter_title="Learn The Basics of Functional Programming", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests", next_chapter_title="Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder") }}