I think there's one true fundamental reason: software is a lot more difficult than we assume. We underestimate the degree to which even the most mundane program

I think there's one true fundamental reason: software is a lot more difficult than we assume. We underestimate the degree to which even the most mundane program is the task of creating an entire universe and ecosystem from scraps. Even the most helpful programming languages and libraries don't get you as much as you think. Just look at the world software engineers play in. In a world of 7 billion people, nearly all of us use one of a tiny number of compilers on computers running one of just three or four kernels, atop one of two processor instruction sets. Yet look at the plethora of programming languages. The fundamental building blocks of our industry are apparently so terrible that many of our brethren devote years trying to replace them.