The problem with software as opposed to most artifacts that humans produce in the world is: "chaos". Sofware is insanely sensitive to initial conditions and a s

The problem with software as opposed to most artifacts that humans produce in the world is: "chaos". Sofware is insanely sensitive to initial conditions and a single logical error anywhere along the line leads to... well, chaos[1]. A single errant system may also have insane reach (as opposed to e.g. a bridge), so the consequenses just amplify. Unfortunately, we've started to rely on the reliability of software in unprecedented ways. (I'd guesstimate that it's probably mostly short-sighted economics that's driving it.) [1] This is inherent to Turing Machines[2], so if we keep insisting on Turing Complete languages in every realm of computation we'll forever suffer this problem. Please don't think that I'm making an argument against general computing, I'm not. I'm making an argument for restricted DSLs for things that don't need more. [2] We're not even talking the 'ordinary' chaos of dynamical systems here. Those can at least usually be approximated numerically for the near future unless they're actually really close to a point of divergence. Not so with programs.