When the first Model-T car was released, the instructions for starting the car were two pages long! Creeppy!! We get irritated if the car takes more than 5 seconds to start when we turn the key. A great example to show how we realised the importance of automation over the course of time.
Why do we need automation? It ensures consistency and repeatability. Manual procedures ensure consistency up to an extend, but not always repeatability. Because the interpretation varies slightly for different people. People are not repeatable as computers are.
Many tools are available for handling repeated tasks. One such example is cron. It allows us to schedule tasks to run periodically. We use cron to automatically backup data everyday at midnight, or to generate reports at the end of every month. We use makefiles to compile projects. It runs all the tests before build and compiles the project automatically with a single command.
Another great example is build automation. We use Continuous Integration Servers to deploy code to production servers. We use API doc generators to generate documentation automatically from source code.
Automation is inevitable. Let the computer do all the repetitive, mundane tasks. We've got better things to do...
- summary of Ubiquitous Automation, from The Pragmatic Programmer: from Journeyman to Master
Why do we need automation? It ensures consistency and repeatability. Manual procedures ensure consistency up to an extend, but not always repeatability. Because the interpretation varies slightly for different people. People are not repeatable as computers are.
Many tools are available for handling repeated tasks. One such example is cron. It allows us to schedule tasks to run periodically. We use cron to automatically backup data everyday at midnight, or to generate reports at the end of every month. We use makefiles to compile projects. It runs all the tests before build and compiles the project automatically with a single command.
Another great example is build automation. We use Continuous Integration Servers to deploy code to production servers. We use API doc generators to generate documentation automatically from source code.
Automation is inevitable. Let the computer do all the repetitive, mundane tasks. We've got better things to do...
- summary of Ubiquitous Automation, from The Pragmatic Programmer: from Journeyman to Master
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