Part of it is the widespread use of subpar languages for large scale development. Python, javascript, golang, etc. are all very bad languages to use in large scale dev. They may be relatively quick to get things off the ground, but once things become complex, their shortcomings are going to affect development quickly.
Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
161–166 of 166 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
#162One reason is people changing jobs more ;) On large, old codebases, it basically results in lava flow development. The difference with the regular code rot that could be prevented/reversed with refactoring, more time spent on code quality, best practices etc. is that it's self-reinforcing and perpetuating, with metaphorical layers of code rot on top protecting those lower and shifting the trade-off between cleaning up and adding one more even further towards the latter ;) Old layers solidify and new ones flow on top of them (layers being metaphorical, not "architectural")
In a large complex system, say something written lovingly with best practices by a guy who has left 3 years ago, needs to be modified. The new dev doesn't have a good mental model of this code, or maybe has no model because it's the first time anyone still on the team is looking at it in depth. Even with best intentions, they tend to work "around" the old code with less modifications than the original developer would have made to properly integrate the change; instead they put stuff on the "outside"... aside from additional code rot/clunkiness, this also results in fragile dependencies that are even harder to untangle and clean up, and perpetuates the cycle.
Re: Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regarding games, I wonder if it is just an issue of expectations. For the longest time, AAA studios mostly released simple first person shooters with straightforward enemy AI and simple physics. And Bethesda and Obsidian released gloriously buggy RPGs. Nowadays, every game includes open world elements, RPG elements, and more complicated NPC interactions... and it turns out that they are all full of bugs. Complex game…
> Complex games have complex problems that don't reveal themselves until players do weird things. If you don't think them through they will. Just write it right.
If it was that simple don’t you think game developers would have done just that? I have worked both in and outside the games industry and it is clear to me that AAA games are magnitudes more complex than your everyday biz app.
Re: Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps I should update the question. I'm not referring to ALL software quality. I'm referring to the quality of codebases that are 1) old, 2) large, and 3) supported by many people. You make a good point though. Perhaps I just miss the good ol' days of working on small teams with small codebases that were pretty easily maintained.
> Perhaps I should update the question. I'm not referring to ALL software quality. I'm referring to the quality of codebases that are 1) old, 2) large, and 3) supported by many people. Because Google[1] and Facebook came along and scared everyone by iterating at a LOLWTF pace and companies in surrounding spaces looked at what was taking up time in their release schedules and the answer was "test passes" so they fired…
I have no QA testing and the code I maintain haven’t had a customer production bug for 5+ years. And we are taking complex software written in C++. The reason why is 90000 end-to-end use case tests. I routinely implement new features or refactor major parts of the application and the tests will tell me if it is ready for production or not.
Re: Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
#165I think software quality is always decreasing because of multiple factors.
1) The tension between leadership that usually only prioritizes shipping new features and engineering that wants to write sustainable code. There is usually no incentive for engineering to decrease technical debt or increase sustainability, as these changes are usually not tangible to leadership. The only short-term beneficiaries of one engineer's code quality improvements are other engineers, which often don't care that much, as they are busy shipping new features as quickly as possible.
2) Speaking of short-term, not all leadership thinks long-term. Sustainable code makes sense if you're thinking long-term, but not if leadership is chasing lucrative exits in a couple of months. If a project survives for 20 years, chances are it survived multiple leadership changes, which all thought short-term.
3) In software, the only constant is change. As project gets older, it has to deal with all the changes that aging entails. Aging means increased exposure to reality and all the "surprising amount of detail"[1] it contains. This increases complexity, introduces bugs, adds edge cases to deal with, etc.
[1] http://johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/reality-has-a-surprising-...
Re: Ask HN: Why is software quality always decreasing?
#166Software has a better UI/UX. Software has matured and conformed to the market. The market is full of dumb people who care about UI/UX and nothing else.
This is exactly the case. The market demands trash, so they get it.. sure is pretty though.