APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Monthly Archives: November 2025
Vibe coding and BASIC
In Vibe Coding: What is it Good For? Absolutely Nothing (Sorry, Linus), The Register makes a comparison between vibe coding today and the BASIC programming of the first generation of home microcomputers: In one respect, though, vibe coding does have … Continue reading
Posted in AI, history
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Essence and accident in language model-assisted coding
In 1986, Fred Brooks posited that there was “no silver bullet” in software engineering—no tool or process that would yield an order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity. He based this assertion on the division of complexity into that which is essential to … Continue reading
Posted in AI, software-engineering, tool-support
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Tony Hoare and negative space
The Primeagen calls it Negative-Space Programming: using assertions to cut off the space of possible programs, leaving only the ones you believe are possible given your knowledge of a program’s state at a point. Tony Hoare just called it “logic”, … Continue reading
When did people favor composition over inheritance?
The phrase “favor composition over inheritance” has become one of those thought-terminating cliches in software design, and I always like to take a deeper look at those to understand where they come from and what ideas we’re missing if we … Continue reading
Posted in history, ooa/d, OOP
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