On: Why are we so bad at software engineering?

[WalterBright]

> If you're laying down the bricks for a house, there really aren't any cheap tricks or shortcuts.

Oh, there are plenty of them. Substandard bricks, substandard mortar, inadequate foundation prep, walls not being straight and plumb, etc.

It's just that brick construction is both easy to inspect and well known how to do it.

[3PS → WalterBright]

Right, sure. If I had to guess, though, bricklaying is still O(n) no matter how many corners you cut.

[gbersac → 3PS]

Not sure, more and more building are done using pre-done walls. Mainly in China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sh7hghljuQ

[chii → WalterBright]

it's more that bricks have to follow the laws of physics. A building with bricks that don't have the quality required will collapse, and the builders will be found guilty.

Software doesn't fail so dramatically - small annoyances, for example, is easily dismissed. Even if there are many of them.

[pjc50 → chii]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-395...

The collapse may be after some years. I can't find any evidence that the builders have even had to pay for remediation, let alone compensation.

The Grenfell fire has an even more egregious problem in that the builders are being granted immunity from prosecution before testifying.

[heartbeats → chii]

Small annoyances such as water leaking in and causing mold, or windows losing too much heat to the outside?

[WalterBright → heartbeats]

Or forgetting to put in the weep holes so water accumulates in the walls :-/

[heartbeats → WalterBright]

Come on man, how can you be so stupid so as to forget something like that?

This stuff is easy, just look over the code- I mean blueprints before commi- I mean building and you'll be fine. Everyone knows you're supposed to put the weep holes in, so make sure to do that.