Knowing what I know now I would write enterprise grade tools to completely commoditize front end developers. I don’t mean framework nonsense, so developers can pretend to be developing, but a real business solution that entirely writes the frontend for noncoder product owners with a focus on performance, accessibility, and small output.
The 99% goal of frontend browser developers is to connect to data from some backend database and put text on screen. Yes, that is beyond stupid trivial, like conjuring the insane strength required to lift a paperclip. Nonetheless, it seems very few people can figure it out. The compile target of the browser is the DOM, which irrationally scares the shit out of most people. The DOM is just an in-memory data structure accessed via a standard API.
Imagine how much employers would be willing to pay if some application can eliminate 90% of their frontend developers and produce superior output with a lower cost of maintenance.
I'll throw you an up-vote, perhaps somewhat in irony.
I left uni in 1992 and went to work for a company -using- a tool pretty much exactly as you describe. I've spent 31 years now solving problems, building software and training others in the tool. We're a tiny team, our closest competitor spends upwards of 50 mil a year on development. We outsell them in our space with 2 people developing.
So the tool you describe exists, and there are low-thousands of very small companies (or one-man operations) dominating their industries.
So tiny front end developer teams, check. Superior output, check. Lower cost of maintainence check. How much are employers willing to pay? Next to nothing.
I've heard every excuse under the sun. Some are more material than others. But ultimately it boils down to risk. Stepping outside Microsoft/Apple/mainstream tools has existential risk at managerial level.
Programmers don't like it cause the focus is on results, not coding fun. It very much favours people who are making a product to sell, not writing code by the hour.
The makers have never spent a dime on marketing. Their Web site is terrible. Their users tend not talk too loudly about it because the competitive advantage is material.
So employers don't want it.
Programers dont want it. Self-employed folk love it.
You would spend 10 years trying to make this huge software work well in so many edge cases that you would look for posts like this to tell people to not waste 10 years doing what you did :)
The edge cases aren't in the DOM, they are in the software being developed. By your reply it seems that you never tried to take this idea out of paper?
Well I'd tell you that this already exists. It works well and drives a bunch of software in industries you've never heard of.
I'd also tell you not to do it because there's no money in selling tools to developers that makes developing easier, with fewer people. Indeed programmers are exactly not the target audience. The sweet spot is empowering one-man operations who find a niche and dominate it.
But you're right in one sense, all the value is in solving the edge case. All the grunt work is taken care of, so what's left is programming in the corners.
The 99% goal of frontend browser developers is to connect to data from some backend database and put text on screen. Yes, that is beyond stupid trivial, like conjuring the insane strength required to lift a paperclip. Nonetheless, it seems very few people can figure it out. The compile target of the browser is the DOM, which irrationally scares the shit out of most people. The DOM is just an in-memory data structure accessed via a standard API.
Imagine how much employers would be willing to pay if some application can eliminate 90% of their frontend developers and produce superior output with a lower cost of maintenance.