Why Drupal Views make so little sense

I recently had a very short contract gig working for a company that creates websites using Drupal. While that doesn’t sound very interesting or even hard, to make it more so of both, these guys used Views for every

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thing. Which I just don’t get.

If you are a programming, why would you use views? It is adding a layer of abstraction between the logic and database in an interpreted language with a framework that is already bloated beyond all recognition. I know when I write plugins for Wordpress, I want the plugin to be quick, precise, and add the least amount of overhead possible. Views just seem to be a way to do all the opposites of those, just for the hell of it.

If you are not very technically inclined, I understand. Using views is a lot like using MS Access. You can create fairly complex queries yourself, without having to get someone that actually understands it involved. And that is the trade off. You can do it yourself, and eat the extra overhead, or pay/hire/bribe/cajole someone else into doing it for you, specialized, and thus, in theory at least, more efficiently.

These folks claimed to be programmers though, so I just don’t get it. Why are you depending on someone else’s plugin, that extends functionality that is inefficient and clumsy, can’t do everything, and still requires custom code to be written or even more plugins to be added. Where exactly does that circular line stop?

The Drupal “framework” and I use that term loosely since it is really a CMS that can just be extended, has enough problems and bloat in it, why exactly are views worth adding more? Again, assuming you know SQL and PHP on even a basic level.

It just doesnt make any sense. Query writers and views are one thing if you are working directly with the database, (e.g. phpMyAdmin or TOAD), but adding it as a layer to a “custom” application that you will be supporting when you claim to be capable of actual programming!!?? Please explain that one to me.

To be fair, I dont use Drupal much, I like WP much better. The OO approach is much more appealing than the very Perl-esque (read: old) way of doing things Drupal does with its modules. But I still don’t get what the big deal is about Views.