Golden Hammer

Noun · Hacker Culture

Definitions

  1. An anti-pattern where a familiar tool or technique is applied to every problem regardless of fit — 'when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' In tech, it's using your favorite language/framework/database for everything, even when a different tool would be clearly better.

    In plain English: Using the same tool for every problem because you're comfortable with it, even when it's not the best choice.

    Example: "He uses PostgreSQL for everything — relational data, job queues, full-text search, caching. PostgreSQL is his golden hammer."

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