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The street outside near my apartment has been under constant construction during the entire 5 years I've lived there. They literally tear open the same part of

The street outside near my apartment has been under constant construction during the entire 5 years I've lived there. They literally tear open the same part of the street multiple times, and cover it back up again, only to tear it open again, etc. One day I asked one of the workers why they keep tearing open the same part of the road, why couldn't they just replace everything that is broken in one go? He told me that they often do find and fix the problems, but sometimes they can't find them and give up, or sometimes they do and only kind of fix them. Other times they do fix the problem, only to have another in the same area. He also said sometimes an electric guy will mess up the plumbing, etc. And they aren't allowed to touch and telecom stuff. He said that sometimes some crews will just cut out his work, or cut into their pipes, drill and bolt into their pipes or riggings, causing leaks, etc. I'm sure at some level this keeps these guys busy but its a wonder we haven't been able to come up with some kind of better system or way of doing things in all these years.

casta 10y ago
I find interesting that you could read what the worker said as a metaphor to software development. And if a worker were to look at how some code changes just looking at the files modified, he would probably notice that we keep tearing open and modifying the same piece of code many times, he might ask why can't we just fix all the bugs at once.
- amelius 10y ago
  Imho, that is not a good metaphor, because all streets are basically the same, whereas software is always very different (and way more complicated).
  - dalore 10y ago
    That's very reductive. All lines of code are the same, they are just letters right? Streets I imagine would be very different depending on what's underneath.
  - matthewmacleod 10y ago
    That sounds a little bit like a software developer's bubble to me! Yeah, most software is a bit more complex than underground utilities. But the latter are far from the same, and I'd argue it's actually much more difficult to prod, examine and debug what's going on underneath an active roadway than it is to debug a bit of software, for example.
  - lithos 10y ago
    You sound like some computer illiterate that can only understand the Internet as a series of tubes(when it comes to your understanding of what is going on under the streets). Rather than seeing communication protocols, physical networking, social/actual contracts, and whatever else. Just spend 20 minutes looking at/reading ladder diagrams, an organizational method electrical control systems. You'll learn that you pretty much 1 for 1 programming logic (that first motor controller you look at is the same as hello world, and algorithmically it's somewhere between 6 and 12 if statements).
- imtringued 10y ago
  Going by your metaphor some lines of code in your codebase (not in libraries) are licensed by different companies and only they have the right to fix the bug.
thatfrenchguy 10y ago
They could fix everything in one go if the same company / public agency owned everything...
internaut 10y ago
> I'm sure at some level this keeps these guys busy but its a wonder we haven't been able to come up with some kind of better system or way of doing things in all these years. I've heard there exists a dramatically better system but I think the technology got classified as secret many decades ago. One day it shall be declassified and we might see some very substantial progress in this area.

casta 10y ago

I find interesting that you could read what the worker said as a metaphor to software development. And if a worker were to look at how some code changes just looking at the files modified, he would probably notice that we keep tearing open and modifying the same piece of code many times, he might ask why can't we just fix all the bugs at once.

amelius 10y ago
Imho, that is not a good metaphor, because all streets are basically the same, whereas software is always very different (and way more complicated).
- dalore 10y ago
  That's very reductive. All lines of code are the same, they are just letters right? Streets I imagine would be very different depending on what's underneath.
- matthewmacleod 10y ago
  That sounds a little bit like a software developer's bubble to me! Yeah, most software is a bit more complex than underground utilities. But the latter are far from the same, and I'd argue it's actually much more difficult to prod, examine and debug what's going on underneath an active roadway than it is to debug a bit of software, for example.
- lithos 10y ago
  You sound like some computer illiterate that can only understand the Internet as a series of tubes(when it comes to your understanding of what is going on under the streets). Rather than seeing communication protocols, physical networking, social/actual contracts, and whatever else. Just spend 20 minutes looking at/reading ladder diagrams, an organizational method electrical control systems. You'll learn that you pretty much 1 for 1 programming logic (that first motor controller you look at is the same as hello world, and algorithmically it's somewhere between 6 and 12 if statements).
imtringued 10y ago
Going by your metaphor some lines of code in your codebase (not in libraries) are licensed by different companies and only they have the right to fix the bug.

thatfrenchguy 10y ago

They could fix everything in one go if the same company / public agency owned everything...

internaut 10y ago

> I'm sure at some level this keeps these guys busy but its a wonder we haven't been able to come up with some kind of better system or way of doing things in all these years. I've heard there exists a dramatically better system but I think the technology got classified as secret many decades ago. One day it shall be declassified and we might see some very substantial progress in this area.