> For one, you often start a field with a specific book. If you pour a lot of time into that book, you often feel more attached to it. Then, when trying to evaluate another textbook, it's hard (impossible?) to go through that same experience and understand if you would have had an easier time with the material. There are definitely some obvious cases, but it isn't always.
Exactly what I noticed about other types of comparisons. People conflate familiarity with quality. That's why loyalty wars, like vim vs emacs, verilog vs vhdl, python vs ruby, etc, have significant components of subjectivity. It's not a purely objective debate about vim vs emacs, rather a debate between a comfortable user of vim and a comfortable user of emacs. That's why when someone decides to learn the rival tool properly before bashing it, they end up not being too radical in their views.
Exactly what I noticed about other types of comparisons. People conflate familiarity with quality. That's why loyalty wars, like vim vs emacs, verilog vs vhdl, python vs ruby, etc, have significant components of subjectivity. It's not a purely objective debate about vim vs emacs, rather a debate between a comfortable user of vim and a comfortable user of emacs. That's why when someone decides to learn the rival tool properly before bashing it, they end up not being too radical in their views.