On 19/08/2011 04:19 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 8/19/2011 1:34, Invisible wrote:
>> From time to time, somebody builds something that's truly
>> ground-breaking.
>> The world's tallest building, perhaps. Or the longest bridge. Or
>> whatever.
>
> Even the world's tallest building is essentially the same story, using
> the same structural characteristics, repeated 200 times.

I think you underestimate the challenges. It's not like you can take a 
200 story building and just add 200 more stories. It would collapse. You 
have to come up with clever solutions for weight distribution, 
withstanding high winds, earthquakes, sunamis, make sure that water and 
power distribution works right, etc.

The first buildings with complex curves were a major feat of 
engineering. Even today, people design buildings which appear to defy 
gravity (but obviously don't).

>> And while no two pieces of software are /exactly/ alike, lots of them are
>> extremely damned similar.
>
> Sadly so. But it's an ongoing task to factor that similarity out.

Ongoing and remarkably unsuccessful, oddly enough.

>> How many compilers are there?
>
> Sure. But how many now all compile down to CIL or JVM, eliminating half
> of the work of implementing the compiler by clever reuse of code?

Yes, because tokenising and parsing the input doesn't count as "writing 
a program", does it...

> Programmers don't always succeed in not reusing code. But they strive to
> do so.

LOL.

> Also, you're looking at it wrong again. How many times does the
> Microsoft C# compiler get reused? How many times does the plumbing from
> the 23rd floor of the Empire state building get reused?

A better analogy might be "How many times does the Microsoft C# compiler 
get used? How many times does a JCB digger get used?"

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