By At the Golden Gate Ruby Conference this past weekend, one of the main themes I got from the talks (and conversations between them) was a notion of how important it is to get back to basics in order to cure major issues.
It’s a good point. The shiny new things make for sexier conference talks, but solid fundamentals applied over the long term is usually the path to happiness for a given codebase or system.
I’ve found this true in music and sports as well. Working on “low-level” fundamentals is often the best way to improve. Usually you don’t need something fancy or new to come along and improve things – you just need to learn to correctly use the tools you already have.
Peter Kinmond 