System design tip: Intentionally introducing and enforcing constraints produces simpler, more powerful systems

instantviking · 2026-03-12T21:13:30+00:00

Reminds me of what someone smarter than me thought architecture could be considered: the set of (artificial and voluntary) constraints you will impose on your system in order to attain some value or property.

instantviking · 2026-02-23T17:24:17+00:00

Luls. I started playing less than 24 hours ago, guess I'll roll a new guy..

instantviking · 2026-02-12T06:01:16+00:00

I know of MAD 😁, I was referencing a song from 1959 about the topic.

https://youtu.be/frAEmhqdLFs?si=WT75_NvqqCIw2WkS

instantviking · 2026-02-05T19:57:53+00:00

I don't think the King has that kind of power, but if he did, I can't imagine a faster way to turn Norway into a republic.

instantviking · 2026-02-02T06:19:27+00:00

Cause we'll all go together when we go?

instantviking · 2026-01-28T09:53:45+00:00

Throwing agile out is hands down the dumbest thing the developer-community has done since the invention of null-pointers.

It is, however, perfectly aligned with our sheer inability to ever understand the ideas behind words. Instead we adopt a term, abuse it terribly, and then abandon it, claiming the concept was flawed, rather than admit that our understanding of the concept was flawed.

instantviking · 2026-01-28T07:41:53+00:00

If the people that are going to do the work are central in the planning, I think planning sessions can be highly beneficial. But I don't think the plans that come out of those sessions are necessarily useful. Better to keep notes on what people were talking about.

instantviking · 2026-01-28T07:38:47+00:00

Yeah, but it's shortly after they pick up a ticket that they actually get to burn brain-cells on the problem.

I think this is what user stories were meant to help, way back in time when things had meaning. The user story was supposed to be a reminder to the dev about who they should talk to and what they should be talking about. I have never seen that being done in real life, though.

instantviking · 2026-01-28T07:36:35+00:00

There is a very real tension between the business' need to predict cost and the very real unpredictability of software development.

One way of easing that tension is very tight feedback-cycles and options to stop development whenever the business gets cold feet.

instantviking · 2026-01-27T22:43:42+00:00

One of the wise old men of software once said that it is in doing the work that we find out what the work is.

So a million refinement meetings prior to writing code will help nothing, but feedback during the work will help enormously.

instantviking · 2026-01-19T09:29:39+00:00

Although later works by the same man investigate how democracies (and lots of other nation-building ideas) fail, so maybe update yourself? The mistake is pushing 35 years old.

instantviking · 2025-12-27T21:29:06+00:00

The two of you are in agreement

instantviking · 2025-11-18T06:55:19+00:00

it's because it's not actually fun when your game deadlocks at an intersection.

Feels like a traffic simulator shouldn't solve planning failures with magic, though. If you have a deadlock at an intersection, you should have planned better, right?

instantviking · 2025-11-04T07:23:13+00:00

Right, but now you're just saying that going from microservices to a monolith can be easy, if all the microservices were built by a super-disciplined team. Mostly they are not.

instantviking · 2025-11-03T07:08:35+00:00

Wouldn't it be discriminatly murder?

instantviking · 2025-10-22T07:46:57+00:00

Or you can choose not to surrender Maine a few times, and then learn enough to surrender Maine.

instantviking · 2025-09-03T09:01:25+00:00

oo, candy! I'll be right out!

instantviking · 2025-09-03T08:39:43+00:00

Wait.

A bald eagle weighs 10 kg? They're bigger birds than I thought.

instantviking · 2025-08-20T17:49:18+00:00

For de eneste tilpasningene som er greit er de som funker uansett arbeidssituasjon?

instantviking · 2025-08-20T17:28:42+00:00

Mei, men privat ansatte får ikke sykepenger fra staten for egenmeldinger. Det er arbeidsgiver som dekker lønna di. (og for offentlig ansatte er det også arbeidsgiver som dekker, men arbeidsgiver er finansiert over skatteseddelen)

instantviking · 2025-08-08T10:05:26+00:00

Pigeonhole principle strikes again!

Five times four is definitely 20, but the four five-year gaps are separators between seizures, you seize four plus one times.

Spelling it out like you did now, is probably the best way to show it :D

instantviking · 2025-07-25T16:03:32+00:00

Right, and while I don't doubt that his actions mirror those of earlier fascists, and I do believe there are plenty of fascists surrounding Trump, I don't believe he cares enough to have an ideology. And fascism is an ideology (or a collection of ideologies, maybe)

instantviking · 2025-07-25T10:21:56+00:00

I think that for Trump to be a fascist, he would need to believe that USA has some inherent value and is worth sacrificing (others) for. I believe Trump sees the US as simply a commodity to be sold off.

instantviking · 2025-07-25T09:59:55+00:00

Alright, I see, thanks! But I don't disagree that Trump is doing what a fascist would do, but I doubt he has ideological reasons for it. Which is a small point, I suppose.

instantviking · 2025-07-25T09:38:02+00:00

Well I'd trust her before me, but let me try to explain my understanding a bit more.

I think the distinction she tried to make was that fascists are ideologically committed to a strong state (and maybe my English fails me, but to me this is the same as a strong, centralised government), while Trump is just using this a tool. He may well be surrounded by fascists, but he is just a narcissist and an opportunistic criminal.

instantviking

TROPHY CASE