Inb4 someone makes or mentions a JavaScript-based version of this, which operates on JSON files.
In fact, you can already do the querying part using https://stedolan.github.io/jq/, I believe you can make modifications with it as well, but a different front end a la recins/recdel would make that a bit more convenient.
IDK, I don't mind them at all. Yeah, of course, all software is written for humans in some sense, but no single piece of software is ever going to be "the one" that satisfies every single person out there.
Some people like to keep it simple, others like to geek out on esoteric settings and full configurability. Personally I like when a software is upfront about who it's for, instead of pretending to cater to everyone's taste.
Even Windows comes in several flavors because one size doesn't fit all.
> the [..] difference between the "thinking" programmers and the "shipping" programmers grows larger
That certainly seems true, but does that mean it should be that way? FWIW I see "thinking" programmer as a senior engineer, and "shipping" programmers as juniors. The latter will eventually become the former, but they require training and nurturing to do so.
In my experience, that's very hard to find. I've worked for many companies and in my experience, the ones with a "sane" programmer culture are very, very rare. Most are dominated by the business and sales structures, and see the techs as a necessary evil that they'd rather ship overseas where the wages are lower.
Where are the companies that are committed to technical excellence?
Nomen est omen?