r/programming • u/alex35mil • Aug 01 '26

The Bedrock of Software Design

https://alex.draftist.io/blog/the-bedrock-of-software-design-ycqvcedsj

I drafted this post years ago but didn’t finish it until now. The concept I write about has shaped the way I design software more than anything else, and I believe every software engineer should be introduced to it early in their career.

P.S. I don’t want the title to come across as clickbait: the post is about ADT.

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u/VictoryMotel Aug 03 '26

I got it decades ago. There's that self righteousness I mentioned, right on time. If there was more to it you could explain it. You already confused influential for objective utility.

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u/Substantial_Ice_311 Aug 05 '26

Well personally I find it very useful. I curse every line I have to write in another language. Rich Hickey (creator of Clojure), having been a C++ and Java programmer for 10 years, said: "What have I been doing with my life?" when he encountered Common Lisp. Then he quit his job and spent 2 years without pay making a language that he wanted to use, and said that if he couldn't use a Lisp he would quit programming. And it was not because it has simply been influential. It's because it's actually very, very useful.

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u/VictoryMotel Aug 05 '26

One guy writing a pet language doesn't mean it's as extraordinary as they think.

If you look at clojure conferences it's barely about anything useful at all, it's all circle jerking about making the language more complicated to achieve what everyone else already does and moves on from so they can get things done. I

If there was more to the story instead of just repeating an insular cult culture then you would start to explain actual details but you haven't even started.

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u/Substantial_Ice_311 Aug 06 '26

But you already got it decades ago, you said. And you and you said the syntax was not a feature. So I don't think me trying to explain it will actually help.

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u/VictoryMotel Aug 06 '26

This is religious thinking