The Lindy effect in software

(clemsau.com)

13 points by ankitg123 days ago

4 comments

Chu4eeno2 hours ago
I'd say rust is the new Java, not Go.<p>Complete with rewriting everything in the trendy memory safe quasi-portable language that is faster than (poorly written) C in your personal microbenchmarks.
- rf152 hours ago
  I work in enterprise, and java still reigns supreme. You see some (very limited) cracks coming from other jvm languages, but that's all. Nobody talks about Rust, rarely about C.
  - bee_rider1 hour ago
    Which enterprise?<p>All the job postings I see are for C++ (Annoyingly. Fortran is better). Or Python obviously.
- slopinthebag1 hour ago
  People have been rewriting software in better languages ever since there was more than one programming language. Eventually people will be rewriting Rust programs in GoombaLang or whatever. Isn't this what we want?
  - uecker1 hour ago
    I don't think this is what we want. We want people to maintain and incrementally improve existing software and tooling and not rewrite and change things all the time.
    - slopinthebag57 minutes ago
      A rewrite doesn't need to actually change the public API or experience using the software.<p>But by rewriting software, even in the same language we can learn from past mistakes and experiences and create better and more maintainable software.
      - uecker11 minutes ago
        Sorry, I think the idea that rewrites are good way to achieve more maintenable software is basically always based on a delusion. It is a very common and well understood delusion for programmers who always see the existing code as crap and imagine a beautiful world when they could only rewrite it. A well understood mistake: <a href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/" rel="nofollow">https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...</a><p>In the context of free software it is usually also a method to be able to sideline part of the existing user or developer community, which you can not easily justify when making changes the existing project but can be achieved with a rewrite. But the former leads to a honest view of the trade-offs and consequences where the rewrite is a toxic power move.
- LoganDark2 hours ago
  Huh? Rust is nothing like Java. Java is a dynamic type-erased garbage-collected managed abomination with FizzBuzzEnterpriseEdition standard library.
Animats52 minutes ago
Two words: Visual Basic.
cadamsdotcom2 hours ago
(2023 - hopefully the post lasts another 100 years!)
KoleSeise12771 minute ago
[flagged]