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QT: glammr.us/@katykaty/1119720526

Katy Rawdon / Katy James  
My kid, a computer science major, said that the way programming is taught is "too capitalist" because it emphasizes efficiency and time saving over...

@freemo On the bright side, that's the best defense I've heard so far for bloatware. That kid sounds like he's all for getting the newest computer when the one he uses slows down to a crawl, very much like the millionaire who buys a new car when the ash trays get full....back when cars had ashtrays.

@freemo Accidentally right. NASA for example spends a multiple of the cost per unit of functionality to make reliable code that runs well on slow radiation hardened processors.

So if by efficiency he means programmer efficiency and not machine efficiency, he has a point. That is what commercial development pushes.

@freemo these days I'm constantly struck by how much money is spent to buy the latest computers that are slower at doing the same processes we used to do decades ago on hardware that was exponentially slower.

Because apparently efficiency is not given enough priority in computer engineering these days.

It's really something.

@freemo I have to say the kid’s not wrong if you look at the absolutely astronomical toll that technical debt and the lack of financial support for keystone FLOSS projects until a bug causes everything to fall apart (see log4j, for example). That’s not to say that some level of technical debt isn’t acceptable, but we have accumulating debt due to running a near constant technical deficit, which is bad for literally everyone and everything except the bottom line.

I suspect the kid (and I) would prefer a “software as craftsmanship” mentality, where you can still charge for your work, but you are compensated for the quality and time spent on a well designed, extensible, thoroughly tested solution rather than on the first PR that makes it into prod that ends up breaking everything because of strict deadlines. This rushed mentality prevents people from actually engaging with and understanding the problem and solution spaces thoroughly and being able to take true pride in refining their work. Imagine comparing custom woodworking from real wood to ikea and preferring the latter because it’s cheaper, even though the latter breaks under some very light loads by comparison.

Reward quality work over “rate at which you can add new features that nobody cares about except management” and I think we get a better software engineering culture.

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