Two great points you make. This is why I think it’s so important for people to learn as many different things as possible and to have as many different experiences as possible. The more you learn new things, the more you’re able to understand and impliment things in different ways.

I also agree about fully understanding the possible limitations and complexities of implimenting multiple technologies glued together into a single environment.

This consideration is all part of the decision on what technologies to use. Weighing up the pro’s and con’s of each technology and then deciding based on time, complexity, current environmental variables, knowlege of the technology etc, are all extreemly important.

Thanks for commenting

1. In many cases, the ideas & techiques you are exposed to when using multiple platforms are as important or more important than the extra utlilities, modules etc. For example, RubyOnRails popularised the concept of database migrations; resulting in similar ideas being implemented on platforms like ASP.NET.

2. One should never underestimate the added complexity resulting from a system glued together out of multiple technologies. IDEs, compilers, documentation standards, syntax, bugs, server optimization.