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The software world is much more flexible than the real world (yeah , I know, you're taking to Sherlock here). Go to a civil engineer and ask to create a buildi

The software world is much more flexible than the real world (yeah , I know, you're taking to Sherlock here). Go to a civil engineer and ask to create a building that tilts extremely on one side and requires concrete reinforcement with titanium whatever... they will laugh at you. Do the equivalent to a software engineer or product manager and they will hurry to invent yet another framework to satisfy your request, without giving a second thought about long-term consequences. My point is that the real world has the laws of physics keeping things in check. With software, we don't have such obvious hard limits and each situation is case-by-case with lots of variables... it gets messy.

dartos 3y ago
Also programmers tend to think we’re very smart and clever. We tend to like complex problems and complicated systems and build them. Ironically it’s much harder to make simple software that covers complex use cases than it is to make complex software to do the same.
pclmulqdq 3y ago
I don't think this is about flexibility. It's more about culture. Software engineering culture does not value simplicity, and actually seems to value complexity. Other engineering cultures place a lot more value on simplicity, and its associated values of reliability and risk mitigation. A civil engineer can build you that building, but they will think "what a ridiculous architect." With a software engineering mindset, they would happily build that building for you, and invent a new type of concrete mixed with titanium flakes to do it for you. And then they will go on a decades-long campaign about how titanium-flake-concrete is the Next Big Thing and that anyone using normal concrete is a simpleton.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  Clearly, you haven't worked on German automobiles. There is no one so willing to do things the hard way as a German car engineer trying to implement something that has existed for decades, and functions perfectly in standardized form. I'm only half kidding.
- frenchyatwork 3y ago
  The culture is derived from the economics though. Software engineers who value simplicity don't get promoted, or their software is not as successful, because the other engineers who produce complex software produce results that users are attracted to and the cost of that complexity is not so great as to completely ruin it (at least not at first). On top of that, a little bit of software can be used by a lot of people, but a little bit of building usually can't, so unless you're Gaudí building the Sagrada Família, nobody really wants to spend a couple centuries building a complex building.
btbuildem 3y ago
One could argue that usability requirements are the sort of constraints that could stand in for "rules of physics" in the software world.

dartos 3y ago

Also programmers tend to think we’re very smart and clever. We tend to like complex problems and complicated systems and build them. Ironically it’s much harder to make simple software that covers complex use cases than it is to make complex software to do the same.

pclmulqdq 3y ago

I don't think this is about flexibility. It's more about culture. Software engineering culture does not value simplicity, and actually seems to value complexity. Other engineering cultures place a lot more value on simplicity, and its associated values of reliability and risk mitigation. A civil engineer can build you that building, but they will think "what a ridiculous architect." With a software engineering mindset, they would happily build that building for you, and invent a new type of concrete mixed with titanium flakes to do it for you. And then they will go on a decades-long campaign about how titanium-flake-concrete is the Next Big Thing and that anyone using normal concrete is a simpleton.

dghlsakjg 3y ago
Clearly, you haven't worked on German automobiles. There is no one so willing to do things the hard way as a German car engineer trying to implement something that has existed for decades, and functions perfectly in standardized form. I'm only half kidding.
frenchyatwork 3y ago
The culture is derived from the economics though. Software engineers who value simplicity don't get promoted, or their software is not as successful, because the other engineers who produce complex software produce results that users are attracted to and the cost of that complexity is not so great as to completely ruin it (at least not at first). On top of that, a little bit of software can be used by a lot of people, but a little bit of building usually can't, so unless you're Gaudí building the Sagrada Família, nobody really wants to spend a couple centuries building a complex building.

btbuildem 3y ago

One could argue that usability requirements are the sort of constraints that could stand in for "rules of physics" in the software world.