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From: gabor@qantel.UUCP (Gabor Fencsik@ex2642)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: portable code
Message-ID: <595@qantel.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 21:34:47 EST
Article-I.D.: qantel.595
Posted: Tue Mar 18 21:34:47 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Mar-86 04:46:35 EST
References: <569@hoptoad.uucp> <1149@mit-eddie.UUCP> <868@ellie.UUCP>
Reply-To: gabor@qantel.UUCP (Gabor Fencsik)
Distribution: net
Organization: MDS Qantel, Hayward, CA
Lines: 20
Summary: let them eat packets

> > Laura states that good civil engineers build bridges that last > 10
> > years, good architects build houses that don't fall, etc.  There is a
> > major difference between those professions and the software industry.
> > Those professions have been around for centuries!  The techniques
> > involved in building robust structures are well understood, ...
> 
> There's a deeper reason.  Bridges and houses are _permanent_ structures;
> they're built to last.  Most programs are are more or less ad-hoc.  The
> problems they're designed to solve go away, or change, and the programs
> have to be scrapped or rewritten.  It's part of the cultural transition
> from HARD-ware to SOFT-ware: with electronic communication, we don't
> need permanent structures--anywhere!         [Colonel Sicherman]

Yeah, I can see it now -- we won't need bridges and tunnels and such.
We are not going anywhere ... just sitting like mushrooms, virtual users
staring at our virtual terminals attached to the great virtual network ...

Sounds like the Global Potemkin Village to me.
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Gabor Fencsik                  {ihnp4,dual,lll-crg,hplabs}!qantel!gabor