Here’s the dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about…
The purpose of “assisters” like frameworks and higher level languages is NOT to make good programmers more efficient. It’s to make mediocre programmers more likely to produce “something” of value and to make poor programmers capable of producing anything at all. And if the bell curve tells us anything at all, it’s that these “tools” target 90% of all programmers. But think about it, my fellow top 10%, do you really need all this stuff? If you’re working alone or on a small team with a clear objective, haven’t you always had everything you needed with low level tools? If you need any higher level tools or reuseable components, haven’t you already been building these all along?
Sure it’s fun to play with new things and learn from others, but when it comes time to really produce, don’t we all know how to (and need to) roll with what we know?
The need for frameworks and high level languages only becomes apparent when we grow so large that we can’t find enough senior hackers. Only when you dip down into the mediocre masses do you need this help.