Sprouted ~ Software that grows with you...

If you haven’t yet heard the Delicious Generation has become a hot topic in the Macintosh community. It’s a title bestowed upon a new generation of developers inspired by the appearance of Delicious Library. Other apps like Disco and iClip also come to mind. I was afforded the opportunity at WWDC 2007 to mingle with the members of this up and coming group, a generation X so to speak and one that will play an increasingly prominent role with the release of Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. For my second WWDC post I’d like to characterize the Delicious Generation and offer a caveat or two.

Rock Star Programs
The Delicious Generation has a style, and it is Rock Star Programming. I’m not talking about a methodology here like “cowboy coding” or a paradigm shift made possible by new features in the latest, baddest cat on the block. I mean an attitude both personal and technical. It is a way of doing things and having things done which has developed in and around the programmers and the applications they create. These guys — and it is mostly guys — are rock stars of the Macintosh world. They rock, their apps rock, and they know it.

Rock is an ambiguous word but the metaphor is entirely appropriate. On the application side, rock star programs “do it because they can.” In a word it is show; rock star programs put on a helluva show. They may not be all that incredible, sometimes just a three chord progression, but rock star programs know where to play the extra rift, hit the impecable triplet or hammer on and off, and all with perfect timing. Rock star programs take the most mundane data management tasks and make them gorgeous and exciting.

Rock Star Programmers
Rock star programmers throw a concert you want to see in the next town and then again, and indeed rock star programmers have their groupies. The fans gather online, hanging out at Digg, de.licio.us, twitter and flickr, but they get together for parties too, private rock star parties. WWDC featured the one or the other. You see, rock star programmers know they’re good, and when you’re good you’re exclusive. It can’t be helped.

Don’t get me wrong. I met a few of the rock stars this week at WWDC and they’re good folk. Sure, there’s the über rock star who takes the mic at Q&A, introduces himself with “Hi my name is so and so from so and so, you may have heard of it,” and then talks for five minutes to the applause of his fellow developers (!). But most of these guys are cool, down to earth rock stars, smart guys writing killer code for awesome apps. Props. On stage these guys rock, but back stage they just want to chill, drink a beer and talk.

Rock Star Leopard
Rock star programming is nothing new. The programming community has always had its personalities, coders with style and code on the edge. But Leopard heralds a new era. Leopard is the rock star’s OS, enabling a heretofore unseen level of visual appeal and interface excellence. We’re talking some serious snaz here. Apple has given developers a whole new toolset, a repertoire that coders and designers will take advantage of to deliver an immersive computing experience that is dynamic, fluid and potentially ubiquitous. Folks, your Mac is about to get a whole lot better. “Wow” doesn’t cover it. The volume has been jacked up and the set is gonna blow your mind.

This time around we are talking about a paradigm shift, and as is often the case with paradigm shifts there will be those who try but for whatever reason are unable to hit the mark. I can think of two. Put the power chord and effects box in the hands of a noob and you’ll get a cool sound now and then but also a lot of noise. Leopard enables but with that enabling come the results of inexperience and excess. Both new and longtime Mac developers will be trying new things with the interface and, failed by Human Interface Guidelines (the HIG) that are long out of date, much of what they produce will be ugly. As I’m sure you know, a lot of rock is shit.

Another problem is the level of knowledge and talent required. Rocks stars form bands for a reason. The dude on the piano singing into a mic has a good sound and sells a lot of records, but he doesn’t rock. If you want to rock you need a drummer, a guitarist and singer, your buddy on the ukulele and someone else on sax. Putting on a show with substance requires personnel. The Mac OS already offers a plethora of technologies. Leopard adds to the list. The lone developer might be an expert in one or two areas but he or she can’t be an expert in all of them. While new technologies like CoreAnimation do make it easier for that lone developer to rock, the most rocking apps will likely be written by teams of talented individuals, however loosely associated they are.

Rock star programming and the delicious generation are already underway in full force. If you’re impressed now, wait and see what October produces.