this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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Programming
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The problem is fixing it without inadvertently breaking for someone else. Changing the default behavior isn’t easy.
There’s probably some critical systems that relies on old outdated practices because that’s the way it worked when it was written 20 years ago. Why should they go back and fix their code when it has worked perfectly fine for the past two decades?
If you think anything in software has worked "perfectly fine for the past two decades", you're probably not looking closely enough.
I exaggerate, but honestly, not much.
Billions of programs worked perfectly fine today.
Cynicism is easy, but not helpful.
Yes, popular programs behave correctly most of the time.
But "perfectly fine for the last two decades" would imply a far lower rate of CVEs and general reliability than we actually have in modern software.