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> the software on a space probe that gets launched into space and cannot update itself definitely needs to have a "done" date. Actually, those get updates too.

> the software on a space probe that gets launched into space and cannot update itself definitely needs to have a "done" date. Actually, those get updates too. As scary an idea as that is. NASA engineers are some crazy folk. But I don't disagree that software can be done. It depends on the software, and the supporting ecosystem just as much. A microwave doesn't need or get updates, but it's also not networked, or rendering across different browsers, or needing to support a lot of users. But I think in the larger sense, done is relative. There is always a vision, and growth. And deadlines. This isn't such a problem so long as you are always working at making it better. But if all you ever do is ship features and never address the underlying design... good luck.

antod 11y ago
* > But I don't disagree that software can be done. It depends on the software, and the supporting ecosystem just as much. A microwave doesn't need or get updates, but it's also not networked, or rendering across different browsers, or needing to support a lot of users.* That's for the copy of the software deployed on a specific microwave. Presumably though the team that wrote that code are doing some ongoing work adding new features and fixing bugs for new model revisions and brand new models. As well as changes to keep their tooling and development environments up to date or at at least supportable.