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There's something very different with software I think. For example, if a mechanism calls for a class 10.9 bolt with a certain diameter and thread pitch (let's
by jcgrillo 3y ago
There's something very different with software I think. For example, if a mechanism calls for a class 10.9 bolt with a certain diameter and thread pitch (let's say M6x1 for the sake of argument) then there are many different manufacturers who can supply equally suitable parts. They may each be dimensionally different, have different yield strengths, but they're all conforming to class 10.9 and dimensionally within tolerance. As the designer of the mechanical assembly I can trust the manufacturer of the bolts has a quality control procedure that'll make sure their bolts are good.
As a software assembly designer, I don't really have any way to say "this subcomponent remains intact" when I integrate it into my system. The compiler will chew things up and rearrange them at link time. This is a good thing! It makes the resulting binary go brr real good. But it's ultimately my responsibility to make sure the thing I ship--the compiled artifact--is correct. It's not really a valid move to blame one of my dependencies. I was supposed to review those dependencies and make sure they work in the context of the thing I shipped. Wouldn't it be a bit like the mechanical assembly designer blaming the bolt manufacturer for a failure of a bolt they modified while building the assembly (EDIT: or blaming the supplier when the assembler used the bolt in a way it wasn't designed for)? What guarantees can the bolt manufacturer reasonably give in that case?
EDIT: another thing is that source code isn't really analogous to a mechanical component. It's more like the design specification or blueprint for... something that converts electrical potential into heat and also does other stuff.
- jononor 3y agoTechnical standards, classes, testing procedures did not always exist for bolts either. For some classes of software I think one could create equivalent levels of standardization, if anyone would care enough. Having a standardized test suite would be a key component of that. I think that a YAML parsing library would be among the better candidates for this.