posted in Asklemmy
We all know of the subs like "You Should Know," but what something you SHOULDN'T know?
Replying to @CaptainMan251@lemmy.world
Not sure if this counts, but as a software engineer, pretty much all major software you use is hacks on top of hacks on top of something someone built as a ‘temporary’ solution or as a proof-of-concept that’s still in use years later. It’s amazing that anything works properly at all. Stable software is basically just software with 10+ years of bug fixes layered on top of it.
Part of the reason that Windows backwards compatibility is so good (plenty of Windows 95/98 apps still work fine on Windows 11!) is because Windows automatically applies compatibility fixes, including simulating bugs that were in older versions of Windows, because old apps could be relying on those bugs.
My wife gets very frustrated when she encounters bugs, whereas I’m usually like “well, it’s not nearly as bad as it could be” lol
Outside of software, I can say that most major companies operate like this too. In advertising, companies like to project that they’re all polished and sophisticated, but behind closed doors, everything is held together with duct tape and prayers.
Most organizations in general. There’s a quote from a career congressperson somewhere, that basically paraphrases as “when I first got into office, I tried to find the big movers. The people who really knew what they were doing. I wanted to find them so I could learn from them. And all I learned is that nobody knows what they’re doing. We’re all making it up as we go.”