2 ms·
An electric motor is very different from an internal combustion engine. I'm not sure where you were going with the analogy but an electric motor does eliminate
by nsguy 2y ago
An electric motor is very different from an internal combustion engine. I'm not sure where you were going with the analogy but an electric motor does eliminate the need to lubricate that an internal combustion engine has (no valves, crankshaft, pistons, transmission etc.). Analogous somewhat to maybe a bad software architecture needing constant care vs. a better one that just works and eliminates a lot of that extra care.
I've learned about this term from the economics side rather than the military side. It's all the hidden factors that make things more expensive. Transaction costs. I do think this is a good analogy for "drag" in software development, something along the lines of "technical debt".
- taeric 2y agoRight, that was my point. You can find ways of eliminating some sources of friction in a system, as was done in electric engines. Before you get to the electric motor, though, you will almost certainly have to deal with it in another way. Path dependence being hard to ignore for what we have done to deal with friction in the history of the car. My assertion doesn't lean on "bad architecture," as I feel that there are just different choices and tradeoffs. I do think you should often times look for improvements in the tech you are working with instead of replacements. Replacing tech can, of course, be the correct choice. Often, it is a death knell for the people that are getting replaced. We solve that at societal levels in ways that are different from how you solve them at the local technical choice level.