4 ms·

I learned a while ago that it doesn't matter how broken something is if everyone is using it. Humans are incredibly resourceful, if not also short-sighted. Lo

I learned a while ago that it doesn't matter how broken something is if everyone is using it. Humans are incredibly resourceful, if not also short-sighted. Look at PHP, look at Javascript, look at Wordpress, look at email, look at the original jQuery etc...

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
Email is one of the least broken communication protocols we have. Which says something.
- Xeoncross 11y ago
  Email it's the only free, distributed protocol we have at a large scale. I love that. But email is broken in many ways and adding basic requirements like encryption is still not possible on a large scale do to lock-in.
  - fallat 11y ago
    There is already encryption for email. It's called PGP and it works really well already.
    - Xeoncross 11y ago
      like I said, lock-in
  - thiagowfx 11y ago
    Why do you think e-mail is broken? Could you elaborate please?
agumonkey 11y ago
Universities try to convey this. My final year was more about project management, technology was one variable and nothing else (one of few values of UML is that it tries to be agnostic, even though hyper c++/OOP centric). And thanks to Sir Turing and his friends, you know you can always solve the problem with whatever language/system you have.
- copperx 11y ago
  > And thanks to Sir Turing and his friends, you know you can always solve the problem with whatever language/system you have. I'm tired of hearing this. Theoretically true, but infeasible in practice. Try to build an OS in JavaScript and see how long it takes you.
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    I didn't mean to stretch it, you get the message, do not write an OS in SQL nor a DB in bash, but don't tie yourself to a technology too much either.
vlunkr 11y ago
Well, part of the problem in this case is that JS or something that compiles to JS is the only option for running in the browser, unlike PHP or Wordpress, which have many alternatives.
- joshstrange 11y ago
  > unlike PHP or Wordpress, which have many alternatives. Except that's not really true. While other languages exist that CAN run on servers cheap shared hosting and the ease of dropping in PHP and having it "Just Work (tm)" is nothing to scoff at.
chuckcode 11y ago
qwerty keyboard is my favorite example. Designed to solve the key sticking problem when typing too fast but now we're all stuck with a layout designed to be inefficient. https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/dvorak-vs-qwerty/ https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/dvorak-vs-qwerty/
- svisser 11y ago
  By preventing the key sticking problem, it was more efficient than earlier designs - it wasn't designed to be inefficient.
- PebblesHD 11y ago
  For all the hype I hear about dvorak and other alternate keyboard layouts, I've never met anyone who could type significantly faster on it than I could on qwerty. This isn't objective in any way but from experience I can't say its any 'better'. As for ergonomics and other peripheral effects, I can't comment as I haven't looked into them.
  - hkmix 11y ago
    Well objectively it's less finger travel and more home row use, so it has its merits. The issue is that qwerty is such a de facto standard that you'll run into many layout issues using dvorak.
    - mstechfreak2 11y ago
      I agree. I have a bit faster typing speed right now with dvorak. not sure if it is really super-better, but I definitely benefited from http://www.typingstudy.com http://www.typingstudy.com
- thaumaturgy 11y ago
  FYI, the "key sticking" origin of qwerty is probably a myth: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-the-legend-of-the-qwerty-keyboard-49863249/?no-ist http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-t...

vezzy-fnord 11y ago

Email is one of the least broken communication protocols we have. Which says something.

Xeoncross 11y ago
Email it's the only free, distributed protocol we have at a large scale. I love that. But email is broken in many ways and adding basic requirements like encryption is still not possible on a large scale do to lock-in.
- fallat 11y ago
  There is already encryption for email. It's called PGP and it works really well already.
  - Xeoncross 11y ago
    like I said, lock-in
- thiagowfx 11y ago
  Why do you think e-mail is broken? Could you elaborate please?

agumonkey 11y ago

Universities try to convey this. My final year was more about project management, technology was one variable and nothing else (one of few values of UML is that it tries to be agnostic, even though hyper c++/OOP centric). And thanks to Sir Turing and his friends, you know you can always solve the problem with whatever language/system you have.

copperx 11y ago
> And thanks to Sir Turing and his friends, you know you can always solve the problem with whatever language/system you have. I'm tired of hearing this. Theoretically true, but infeasible in practice. Try to build an OS in JavaScript and see how long it takes you.
- agumonkey 11y ago
  I didn't mean to stretch it, you get the message, do not write an OS in SQL nor a DB in bash, but don't tie yourself to a technology too much either.

vlunkr 11y ago

Well, part of the problem in this case is that JS or something that compiles to JS is the only option for running in the browser, unlike PHP or Wordpress, which have many alternatives.

joshstrange 11y ago
> unlike PHP or Wordpress, which have many alternatives. Except that's not really true. While other languages exist that CAN run on servers cheap shared hosting and the ease of dropping in PHP and having it "Just Work (tm)" is nothing to scoff at.

chuckcode 11y ago

qwerty keyboard is my favorite example. Designed to solve the key sticking problem when typing too fast but now we're all stuck with a layout designed to be inefficient. https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/dvorak-vs-qwerty/ https://www.addedbytes.com/blog/dvorak-vs-qwerty/

svisser 11y ago
By preventing the key sticking problem, it was more efficient than earlier designs - it wasn't designed to be inefficient.
PebblesHD 11y ago
For all the hype I hear about dvorak and other alternate keyboard layouts, I've never met anyone who could type significantly faster on it than I could on qwerty. This isn't objective in any way but from experience I can't say its any 'better'. As for ergonomics and other peripheral effects, I can't comment as I haven't looked into them.
- hkmix 11y ago
  Well objectively it's less finger travel and more home row use, so it has its merits. The issue is that qwerty is such a de facto standard that you'll run into many layout issues using dvorak.
  - mstechfreak2 11y ago
    I agree. I have a bit faster typing speed right now with dvorak. not sure if it is really super-better, but I definitely benefited from http://www.typingstudy.com http://www.typingstudy.com
thaumaturgy 11y ago
FYI, the "key sticking" origin of qwerty is probably a myth: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-the-legend-of-the-qwerty-keyboard-49863249/?no-ist http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-t...