korrents

korrents · piece

We Are Not Special

Hillel Wayne · 20 Jan 2021 · hillelwayne.com ↗

7 korrents from this piece

Hillel Wayne did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    Almost nothing programmers believe is unique to software is actually unique to software.

    Their wordsAlmost everything we think is unique about software appears in every other field of engineering.
    Interesting

  2. Our reading

    Software is not uniquely unpredictable; other engineering disciplines are hit by the same surprises and overruns.

    Their wordsTo assume that software is uniquely unpredictable is a special kind of arrogance.
    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    Software is not less rigorous than traditional engineering; its record-keeping and automated verification are better than most of that field's.

    Their wordsPlenty would kill to get the same kind of automated testing we treat as a given.
    Interesting

  4. Our reading

    Software's real advantage over physical engineering is consistency: a component does what it is specified to do every time, while physical materials only fall within a tolerance.

    Their wordsSoftware is far more consistent than any other kind of engineering.
    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    The one uncontested difference between software and other engineering is velocity: changing software costs seconds where changing a physical system costs weeks and thousands of dollars.

    Their wordsWe can change software much faster than anybody else can change their systems.
    Interesting

  6. Our reading

    Because software is the cheapest part of a system to change, other disciplines lean on it to paper over their own physical problems, and that reliance has killed people.

    Their wordsRather than fix a trad issue with trad engineering, Boeing opted for the software kludge, and then people died.
    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    Software's constraints are soft where traditional engineering's are hard, and that is one of the few real differences between them.

    Their wordsBut constraints in software tend to be soft constraints.
    Interesting