I find it difficult to deny the benefits of modern IDEs on software development. They've made it easier for us to write code, reducing cognitive load and automating boring tasks, sparing us precious time to be employed on more important activities.
What about NPM or crates.io? Sure they make our lives easier by allowing us to download the right dependencies on-the-fly, but what if we are cut off from the internet? It could be just a short blackout, a temporary problem caused by severe weather or some days spent on the wilderness (some of us would love coding there too). It could also be something worse, say a political crisis or even war. Anyway, whatever the cause is, are we ready to code without internet access?
I can't shake off my head the idea that being without internet is something of the past. It would seem that we walk towards an always connected world. Think Starlink.
On the other hand, what if Enterprise's computer fails? What do we do without our beloved tricorders and databases? Do we have to relearn how to suture by hand?
More than modern IDEs, the availability and possibility to exchange source code (and download it) from the Cloud made coding extremely easier and quicker.
But what if there is no cloud to download from anymore? What if we are cut off the internet? What if the infrastructure we depended upon is no more?
Is it possible to prepare for such an occurrence?
I finish this post by pointing you to devdocs.io. Among all these modern tools - IDEs, search engines, social media -, it made me think that even though we've grown a little too much dependent on modern day connectedness, it is still possible to live without Google or StackOverflow!
PS.: And yes, it is possible to create a local NPM server and I've heard of something similar for crates.io. That's one of my goals in the near future. =]
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