4 ms·

> programming's foundations are crumbling That's also correct, and has been for some time (it got worse on each tech boom). This may just be a special case o

by wnoise 5y ago

> programming's foundations are crumbling That's also correct, and has been for some time (it got worse on each tech boom). This may just be a special case of that.

notanzaiiswear 5y ago
What do you mean? At least from the point of view of the end user, apps seem to become better over time.
- AlbertCory 5y ago
  I was tempted to just downvote this, but I thought I'd reply instead: No, they do not. An existing version of an app may get better over time, but unfortunately it then gets replaced with a different version, which starts from the position of extreme bugginess. In the case of Microsoft Office apps, for instance, one could easily argue that they are steadily getting worse as more and more features are added. Google Chrome is pretty clearly getting worse in terms of the amount of memory it uses. I could go on.
  - notanzaiiswear 5y ago
    So why not go back to some old version of it? I don't think "memory consumption" is necessarily a good indicator, because sometimes using more memory is a sign of good optimization. Also how is the memory consumption if you turn off all modern features?
    - fake-name 5y ago
      > So why not go back to some old version of it? Because the old version doesn't work due to DRM/it depending on a remote API version that's no longer available/it's just flat out unavailable/etc... > Also how is the memory consumption if you turn off all modern features? It's cute you think you /can/ turn off the modern features in a lot of today's garbage.
      - notanzaiiswear 5y ago
        Pretty sure you can turn off a lot of things in modern browsers, if you find the hidden settings menu. For sure you can turn off things like JavaScript or video.
        AlbertCory 5y ago
        Pro tip: In fact, turning off JavaScript on a specific site is often a good way to get past their paywall. On other sites, it just makes it not work. YMMV.
    - AlbertCory 5y ago
      I hadn't used Word/Excel for many years, and was f*cking appalled to discover that they have TWO levels of menus now. This comes from generations of PMs and engineers who need to add features to justify their existence. No one has any incentive to keep things simple.
- iamcurious 5y ago
  For some features, like autosaving and cloud sync, sure. Others like doing things in bulk, macros, plugins, not seeing ads, control over updates, all that stuff is vanishing.

by wnoise 5y ago

> programming's foundations are crumbling That's also correct, and has been for some time (it got worse on each tech boom). This may just be a special case of that.

notanzaiiswear 5y ago

What do you mean? At least from the point of view of the end user, apps seem to become better over time.

AlbertCory 5y ago
I was tempted to just downvote this, but I thought I'd reply instead: No, they do not. An existing version of an app may get better over time, but unfortunately it then gets replaced with a different version, which starts from the position of extreme bugginess. In the case of Microsoft Office apps, for instance, one could easily argue that they are steadily getting worse as more and more features are added. Google Chrome is pretty clearly getting worse in terms of the amount of memory it uses. I could go on.
- notanzaiiswear 5y ago
  So why not go back to some old version of it? I don't think "memory consumption" is necessarily a good indicator, because sometimes using more memory is a sign of good optimization. Also how is the memory consumption if you turn off all modern features?
  - fake-name 5y ago
    > So why not go back to some old version of it? Because the old version doesn't work due to DRM/it depending on a remote API version that's no longer available/it's just flat out unavailable/etc... > Also how is the memory consumption if you turn off all modern features? It's cute you think you /can/ turn off the modern features in a lot of today's garbage.
    - notanzaiiswear 5y ago
      Pretty sure you can turn off a lot of things in modern browsers, if you find the hidden settings menu. For sure you can turn off things like JavaScript or video.
      - AlbertCory 5y ago
        Pro tip: In fact, turning off JavaScript on a specific site is often a good way to get past their paywall. On other sites, it just makes it not work. YMMV.
  - AlbertCory 5y ago
    I hadn't used Word/Excel for many years, and was f*cking appalled to discover that they have TWO levels of menus now. This comes from generations of PMs and engineers who need to add features to justify their existence. No one has any incentive to keep things simple.
iamcurious 5y ago
For some features, like autosaving and cloud sync, sure. Others like doing things in bulk, macros, plugins, not seeing ads, control over updates, all that stuff is vanishing.