--- title: Breadth vs Depth in Programming | daily.dev description: A wide-ranging Q&A with a veteran programmer (Fabian Giesen) covering depth vs breadth in learning, the value of fundamentals over trendy frameworks,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Breadth vs Depth in Programming | daily.dev og:description: A wide-ranging Q&A with a veteran programmer (Fabian Giesen) covering depth vs breadth in learning, the value of fundamentals over trendy frameworks,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/VkcvuAW4r.png og:image:alt: Breadth vs Depth in Programming og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Breadth vs Depth in Programming **[Game Engineering Podcast](https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast)** · 89 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A wide-ranging Q&A with a veteran programmer (Fabian Giesen) covering depth vs breadth in learning, the value of fundamentals over trendy frameworks, skepticism toward metaprogramming in C++ and Lisp, a lightbulb moment discovering pure functional programming through demoscene work, language selection philosophy (use whatever the project uses), grudging use of Neovim, and the importance of following curiosity over optimizing productivity metrics. Key advice: deeply understand 3-4 tools rather than superficially touching 100, and learn foundational concepts like JavaScript or CSS internals rather than the latest framework. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Good developers learn to program. Most courses teach a language.](https://daily.dev/posts/good-developers-learn-to-program-most-courses-teach-a-language--2dqwgtgrp) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Learn fundamentals, not frameworks](https://daily.dev/posts/learn-fundamentals-not-frameworks-nlqajgqtr) · Tech World With Milan · 1007 upvotes · 67 comments - [What Really Matters for Dev Students](https://daily.dev/posts/what-really-matters-for-dev-students-mar4lsywu) · Telerik · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#c++](https://daily.dev/tags/c++), [#functional-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/functional-programming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Breadth vs Depth in Programming","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r"},"datePublished":"2026-04-18T16:24:57.340Z","dateModified":"2026-04-18T16:25:17.266Z","description":"A wide-ranging Q&A with a veteran programmer (Fabian Giesen) covering depth vs breadth in learning, the value of fundamentals over trendy frameworks,...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UBhT7nbWpMg/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UBhT7nbWpMg/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Game Engineering Podcast","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Game Engineering Podcast","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--8NEw2a0s--/f_auto/v1735917032/logos/game_eng_podcast","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/breadth-vs-depth-in-programming-vkcvuaw4r","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"python,c++,functional-programming","timeRequired":"PT89M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Breadth vs Depth in Programming","description":"A wide-ranging Q&A with a veteran programmer (Fabian Giesen) covering depth vs breadth in learning, the value of fundamentals over trendy frameworks,...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UBhT7nbWpMg/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-04-18T16:24:57.340Z","duration":"PT89M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/VkcvuAW4r","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/UBhT7nbWpMg"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Game Engineering Podcast","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/game_eng_podcast"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Breadth vs Depth in Programming"}]} ```