Good software is uncommon because writing it is hard. In the abstract, we all know that it is hard. We talk incessantly about how it’s hard. And yet, we also collectively seem shocked — just shocke…
Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
Is Apple losing its crown as the champion of simplicity? Maybe. But for a very good reason.
Why We Can't Have Nice Software - Andrew Kelley
The problem with software is that it's too powerful. It creates so much wealth so fast that it's virtually impossible to not distribute it.
Software developers are not okay
Writing at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland
Engineers do get promoted for writing simple code
It’s a popular joke among software engineers that writing overcomplicated, unmaintainable code is a pathway to job security. After all, if you’re the only person who can work on a system, they can’t fire you. There’s a related take that “nobody gets promoted for simplicity”: in other words, engineers who deliver overcomplicated crap will be promoted, because their work looks more impressive to non-technical managers.
"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers — Senko Rašić
The software development profession is in the midst of upheaval. Nobody knows how the AI revolution will play out in the end, but it is c...
We should rethink how we teach people to code | deadSimpleTech
It's fair to say that the tech industry at the moment is not in a good place. Software engineers tend to be detached, demotivated and unwilling to care much about the work they're doing beyond their paycheck. Code quality is poor on the whole, made worse by the current spate of vibe coding and whatever other febrile ideas come out of Sam Altman's brain. Much of the software that we write is either useless or actively hurts people. And the talented, creative people that we most need in the industry are pushed to the margins of it.
Learning To Write Software… Is Hard - Zicklag's Leaflets
But it's also good — Musings about the last year of Roomy development, and more.
Writing With AI Is Harder Than You Think
It takes rigor, judgment, and willingness to be told your work isn't good enough.
The Era of Software Quality, or the Era of Ostriches?
Humans are bad at writing secure code, and GNOME developers are no exception. GNOME is primarily written using unsafe programming languages where simple mistakes in our code lead to devastating...
Domain Expertise Has Always Been the Real Moat
The hard part of writing software has never been the writing. It was building a working model of the domain in your head first. Before you could ship a payroll…
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.
Breaking Smart: How Software is Eating the World
21 essays on the software revolution — how agile, networked approaches are disrupting industries and remaking society. In English, German, and French.