Software: Duct Tape Is the Fabric of Solutions

January 16, 2020

Polygon published “The Truth Is That Many Games Are Held Together by Duct Tape.” The write up explains that software is messy. Here’s one statement from the write up:

Time and time again, development stories of video games reveal that, because video games have so many different moving parts, from game design to sound, that things often don’t come together until the last possible secondif they come together at all.

We noted this passage as well:

Obviously, developers should care about game-breaking bugs, or anything that gets in the way of a player’s enjoyment of the experience, but as they say, perfect is the enemy of good.

DarkCyber has one issue with the article. The focus is narrow when it should be more inclusive. Microsoft Word numbering, Framemaker’s handling of color, iTunes inability to delete items, Android widget disappearance, and similar quirks have been nettlesome for years, and in some cases decades.

Good enough is the name of the game.

And to provide a light at the end of a very long tunnel: smart software and point and click programming will solve these problems. Sure enough.

Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2020

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