For prototypes, personal projects, quick tryouts etc. I want as much magic as possible, to allow me to get to the point asap.
If I'm setting up a long-term year(s)-long project, like I do sometimes at work, I'm trying to avoid it where possible, and as much as my knowledge and stack allow me. The reason is what you mentioned, I don't want to spend time debugging other folks code. There will always be magic, unless you know every bit down to the processor, but I try to leave the magic to proven, classic tools like Clojure-Compiler, Webpack or NodeSass.
Having the magic is fantastic for fast prototyping, I have to agree. I remember scaffolding some Rails things a while back and I couldn't have been happier with those generators!
Minimalist, an aspiring web dev, comp-sci student, hacker, gamer and a linux enthusiast. I like meeting other nerdy people and seeing what they're doing.
For prototypes, personal projects, quick tryouts etc. I want as much magic as possible, to allow me to get to the point asap.
If I'm setting up a long-term year(s)-long project, like I do sometimes at work, I'm trying to avoid it where possible, and as much as my knowledge and stack allow me. The reason is what you mentioned, I don't want to spend time debugging other folks code. There will always be magic, unless you know every bit down to the processor, but I try to leave the magic to proven, classic tools like Clojure-Compiler, Webpack or NodeSass.
Having the magic is fantastic for fast prototyping, I have to agree. I remember scaffolding some Rails things a while back and I couldn't have been happier with those generators!
Pretty much, if I want to experiment with something I'll use every shortcut available so that I can deal only with what interests me.
Though I'll say that understanding basics of how some more popular tools work can contribute to a somebody versatility.