Okay, so I decided to look into this ‘paulino santana’ thing I kept hearing about. Sounded like some kind of streamlined approach, maybe for coding, maybe design, wasn’t totally clear. People made it sound simple. So, I thought, why not try it on that little utility I was building for myself?
Getting Started
First thing, I tried to find some solid info. Not easy. Just bits and pieces here and there. No real manual, you know? Just talk. The main idea seemed to be about stripping things down. Really bare bones. Like, use the absolute minimum. No fancy libraries, no complex frameworks. Just the basics.
So I started coding. Threw out a bunch of the usual stuff I’d use. Tried to stick to the core language features. Felt weird at first. Like coding with one hand tied behind my back. Simple tasks suddenly took more lines because I had to write helpers that usually come built-in somewhere else.
The Grind
Spent a few evenings just wrestling with it. Trying to make this ‘paulino santana’ style work.
- First, getting the basic structure right took ages. Without the usual scaffolding, I had to think hard about organizing files and logic.
- Then, handling data. Usually, I’d grab a tool for that. Here? Nope. Manual parsing, manual validation. Tedious stuff.
- Ran into issues with error handling. The simple approach meant errors weren’t always obvious. Had to add a lot of checks myself.
Honestly, it got frustrating. Felt like I was reinventing the wheel, and not even a very good wheel. Kept thinking, “Is this really worth it?” Seemed like more work for less result. The code looked ‘clean’ in one way, maybe fewer dependencies, but way more verbose in another.
So, What Happened?
In the end? I got the utility working. Sort of. It does the basic job. But it’s fragile. And adding any new feature feels like a major operation. It’s definitely not something I’d use for a serious project. Maybe for a tiny script, something that will never change? Perhaps.
My take? This ‘paulino santana’ approach, maybe it works for him, or for some very specific, super-simple scenarios. But for most real-world stuff I do? Nah. It felt like a step backward. Too rigid. Too much manual labor for benefits that didn’t quite materialize for me. Learned something, I guess. Mostly learned that sometimes the ‘simple’ way isn’t simple at all. Just different kinds of complicated. Won’t be rushing to try that again soon.
