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Software Engineering Critiques

This cluster focuses on harsh realities, pitfalls, and timeless wisdom in software development, referencing classics like Weinberg's Law, Mythical Man-Month, No Silver Bullet, and concepts like Stack Overflow Driven Development with often cynical or humorous commentary.

📉 Falling 0.5x Other
4,349
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#6342
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Activity Over Time

2007
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2008
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2009
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2010
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2012
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2015
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Top Contributors

known (17) pjmlp (15) quickthrower2 (14) amelius (13) agumonkey (11)

Keywords

NoSilverBullet e.g A.I CSCI POSIWID SODD SRI NoSilverBullet.html ucsf.edu www.cgl falsehoods software programmers man engineers fog software engineers code customer building software

Sample Comments

dancrystalbeach • Nov 29, 2023 • View on HN

The harsh truth about writing software

Cloudef • Aug 28, 2024 • View on HN

Snake oil of the software world

c-smile • Apr 25, 2020 • View on HN

Weinberg's Law: If Builders Built Buildings the Way Programmers Wrote Programs, Then the First Woodpecker That Came Along Would Destroy Civilization.

wbl • Apr 10, 2024 • View on HN

Rough consensus and running code

conductr • Jul 4, 2025 • View on HN

Software ate the world, now it’s defecating on it

BrtByte • Nov 11, 2025 • View on HN

The quiet tragedy of "almost good" software

samd • Feb 3, 2010 • View on HN

Proof that you can't build a great product with clever programming alone.

montecore • Jan 9, 2017 • View on HN

Fog Creek is dead, long live Fog Creek

mistrial9 • May 15, 2023 • View on HN

software development wisdom from a time before cookie-cutters

haecceity • Dec 14, 2019 • View on HN

Programming considered harmful! How to eliminate 100% of your bugs!