DEV Community: Giovanni Proietta

Is this real?

Giovanni Proietta — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 15:39:35 +0000

Spoiler alert.

Ok, it actually is.

Polipo is the first build tool for Figma.

And you can try it (for free) here: https://www.polipo.io/docs/start

Will AI make software disappear?

Giovanni Proietta — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 13:06:38 +0000

When Babbage designed the analytical engine (the first super mechanical calculator) you could provide it with punch cards (a program) and it would print the results.

🔴 Was the knowledge of the underlying arithmetic still needed?

🟢 Yes.

But the gap between the users and the results extended.

With the popularization of AI, the gap has never been that large.

And the knowledge of the underlying technology resides in the minds of very few technologists and - not for the first time - in the machines.

One day punch cards became machine code.

A series of 0 and 1.

And then high-level programming languages like Fortran and COBOL were born, making it easier.

Up until Python.

Up until Low code and No-Code.

Up until v0.

What if at some point AI will render these levels of complexity a nice to have for the average Joe?

What if that is already happening?

AI will make you slow. This will not.

Giovanni Proietta — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 12:14:43 +0000

https://jmp.sh/s/7t5DRQwUXbfwcLRB7Z0B

Complex designs, happy developers: Polipo, the first build tool for Figma.

Giovanni Proietta — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 19:45:26 +0000

How to Front-End as a Full-Stack

Giovanni Proietta — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 11:14:45 +0000

You are working on the product core.🤩

And Marketing comes in.😠

They want you to change the color of a button in 4 different landing pages to test which one performs best.🤦

And it's always super important.😱

Ok, I am exaggerating.

But it's really difficult as a full-stack, when resources are limited, to have to switch constantly from the product to marketing material (mostly landing pages).

How do you deal with it?

Wrote an article about it and I will post it below.

Are Developers Grumpy?

Giovanni Proietta — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 06:37:11 +0000

I say Polipo (https://www.polipo.io/) is a developer tool.

I am wrong.

Polipo interacts with the software core tech.

This makes it belong to deep tech (like Vercel).

This is also why the technology gets vetted by software engineers.

Reactions from them greatly differ.

But there is one thing that always gets me.

Some of the objections imply the following assumption:

"A machine CANNOT do better than me."

A fallacy in disguise.

To which I reply with this visualization exercise I propose here.

Visualize the total global population of software engineers with front-end tasks.

Now,Polipo can optimize (as of today, keep this in mind) the performance of a web app better than the first 50% of that distribution.

To this visualization the majority of software engineers reply:

"Yes, but I can do it better."

And this is why we cannot have nice things.

Developers Are The Gatekeepers

Giovanni Proietta — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 07:46:54 +0000

Every time there is a paradigm shift, two teams are shaped.

🔵 One that defends the status quo

🔴 Another that tries to change things

In the journey creating Polipo (https://www.polipo.io/), the first Figma compiler, we meet with both.

We know for a fact that when the work of a front-end engineer (or a full stack most of the time) is spent implementing a Figma design in code, 50% or more of his time is spent as shown in this silly meme.

We created a technology that empowers engineers to skip in full steps they have been doing for the past 30 years.

Here are the reactions we get:

Pure love,
Skepticism,
Plain hate.

It makes us reflect on how software engineers, for good and bad, are the real gatekeepers for innovation in their field.

And it applies in every field to the ultimate users of a technology.

The users are the modern day kings.

They decide everything.

Including whether society progresses or not.

Food for thoughts from a developer tools maker.

Software Engineers Do NOT Want to Be Efficient

Giovanni Proietta — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:43:40 +0000

In 2014, after my Erasmus in France, I decided on a few things.

First, I would have spent the next 10 years working with languages.

Secondly, I would have tried my way in Sales.

10 years later, I assumed everybody worked like me.

🔴 You work 10 hours
🟢 You get a 10$ bonus

🔴 You work better for 10 hours
🟢 You get a 100$ bonus

🔴 You are super efficient for 10 hours
🟢 You get a 1000$ bonus.

The best work I did in my life, as a Sales person, was where:

my calendar was freed by meetings,
I could get every possible gadget to simplify my work,
I was THE fastest in the room.

And by best work I mean with the highest payout.

I assumed that worked for everybody.

And when 10 years later I met this Head of Design of a large startup, dealing with 40 front-end engineers and she goes:

"I don't think software engineers want to be efficient"

It hit me on a different level.

In my journey, trying to grow https://www.polipo.io/, I underestimated this.

That software engineers are rewarded differently.

The ones who get the most interesting projects, the Googles of the past and the future, get the highest rewards.

But they do not get rewarded for efficiency.

At least not in the same ways I did.

And that is precisely why most of the software engineers do not have any incentive being more efficient.

And they probably do not want to be.

Because one of their tasks is precisely to make the world more efficient.

What do you think about it?

Full video story in the first comment. ⬇️

HELP: How the dev.to community works?

Giovanni Proietta — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 08:32:01 +0000

Hi Tigers,

I have been posting for a few months on dev.to.

I see the number of followers grows steadily (now almost 3000 followers).

BUT.

When it comes to interaction, I struggle to create any meaningful conversation that goes beyond some words it the comment section.

Is it how the platform works?
Is there anything I should be doing to make real conversations happen?
Is there something I am missing out?

Thanks!

Rate this Ad, get some Goodies

Giovanni Proietta — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 11:07:31 +0000

Hey amigos,

Check this ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk4aoqcrNFA

Leave below a comment or an emoji,
Write "pineapple" as the subject line of an email to be sent to giovanni@polipo.io
Get some goodies

Sounds easy right?

Rate this Ad, get Goodies

Giovanni Proietta — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 07:17:45 +0000

Leave an emoji or write in the comments.

Developers, be brutal.

Does your app need more code?

Giovanni Proietta — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:28:10 +0000

[Extract from our blog, by Jeremy Daniels]

Does your app actually need more code?

Think about it:

• 80% of software maintenance costs are due to "technical debt"

• Developers spend 42% of time dealing with bad code

• Only 15% of code in average projects is actually used

The counterintuitive truth:

Less code often leads to better software.

"Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why is less code better?

[Continues here]