“Salvatore Sanfilippo” (@antirez):
We are destroying software by no longer taking complexity into account when adding features or optimizing some dimension.
Agree.
We are destroying software with complex build systems.
Disagree: they are no longer build systems. They also take care of deployment, notarization, linting, vcs, etc.
We are destroying software with an absurd chain of dependencies, making everything bloated and fragile.
Mostly disagree. Leftpad is a good example of this taken to the extreme. But 90% of the cases are worthwhile. Fixing bugs in onde dependency fixes many downstream projects. However, product maintenance is often ignore in industry, and this is the real issue.
We are destroying software telling new programmers: “Don’t reinvent the wheel!”. But, reinventing the wheel is how you learn how things work, and is the first step to make new, different wheels.
Mostly disagree. Reinventing the wheel is a good academic exercise, but not in a product or service. Do it on your own time or in school.
We are destroying software by no longer caring about backward APIs compatibility.
Agree. We need to care more about the longevity of software and hardware. How long should a car last? Or a phone? I still use a very old iPod, but can’t use my more-recent blackberry.
We are destroying software pushing for rewrites of things that work.
Mostly disagree. I think most of the cases, we lack rewrites of things that do not work. The opposite is much less common.
We are destroying software by jumping on every new language, paradigm, and framework.
I agree, but only for startups/SV. It’s a common practice for CoolCompanies™ to write their software using a newish framework to hire people who are interested in learning (often better engineers). But that only occurs in a minority of the companies producing software.
We are destroying software by always underestimating how hard it is to work with existing complex libraries VS creating our stuff.
Mostly disagree. It’s easier to underestimate building things from scratch.
We are destroying software by always thinking that the de-facto standard for XYZ is better than what we can do, tailored specifically for our use case.
Disagree. We want open and modular software. I hate that the Gmail app is way better than Mail.app. Or that WhatsApp does not talk to Telegram or Signal. I hate silos like instagram that are not good internet citizens by not having open APIs and standards. Yes, standards are slow, but the end result is better for society.
We are destroying software claiming that code comments are useless.
Mostly disagree. We are destroying software by not writing the right comments. Most comments are written by people who write poor code and the wrong comments.
We are destroying software mistaking it for a purely engineering discipline.
I don’t even understand this point. Writing software products and services is engineering: it has millions of tradeoffs.
We are destroying software by making systems that no longer scale down: simple things should be simple to accomplish, in any system.
Disagree. We are destroying software by not spending the resources to build good software. It’s not about scaling.
We are destroying software trying to produce code as fast as possible, not as well designed as possible.
Mostly agree. Again, it’s about economics. Software is build with the constraints provided. Time and team quality are part of those constraints. Maybe we need better leadership and better economics.
We are destroying software, and what will be left will no longer give us the joy of hacking.
Disagree. Enterprise software does not provide joy, and that software is most of what exists. There is still good, indie or opensource software that provides that joy, it’s simply in less and less of products/services.
For most software to be hackable, it would have to incorporate many of @antirez’s complaints. I understand it’s a manifesto, but it lacks consistency and focus.
Score: 5/14