> You were the exception.

I was really surprised by the article, I assumed it was going to be the same as my experience which was amazement at having the ability to write instructions that caused the system to do stuff, like make dumb games initially in basic and then better games in assembly.

I've listened to the noise on local TV news where they went to the location (here's a youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDr2dec474)

I would put the noise in the "fact" column.

> Some of the least comprehensible functions I’ve deciphered had quite low cyclomatic complexities.

In agreement with your post, this research that measures cognitive load via EEG and time spent shows that the metrics we use for complexity and readability are only partial matches to what is going on: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9942489/

> I've never experienced a situation where a software design document meaningfully improved the overall process.

If you don't have a document, then how do you make sure that internal team A and internal team B and internal team C and external vendor D and external vendor E all create the correct things so the entire system actually works?

At Sun we didn't use design docs for this. We used architecture docs instead. These were of the form of PSARC cases with materials such as:

- interfaces lists, with attached commitment levels

- interface contracts where interface commitment levels do not otherwise allow teams A, B, and C to use each other's interfaces.

That's much better than design docs.

The difference between architecture and design -at Sun anyway- was this:

  - architecture is only about interfaces
  - design is about details like algorithms

I was thinking in terms of a broad usage of "design" which tends to match what you wrote about architecture.

Often people mean "architecture" when they say "design", yeah.

Reminds me of SNL Happy Fun Ball:

"Announcer: Yes, it’s Happy Fun Ball! The toy sensation that’ssweeping the

nation! Only $14.95 at participating stores! Get one today!

Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should

avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.

Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.

Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture,should

not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.

Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.

Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:

itching

vertigo

dizziness

tingling in extremities

loss of balance or coordination

slurred speech

temporary blindness

profuse sweating

or heart palpitations.

If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelterand cover head.

Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.

When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special containerand kept under

refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of HappyFun Ball, Wacky Products

Incorporated, and its parent company, GlobalChemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.

Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing green substancewhich fell to

Earth, presumably from outer space.

Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is beingdropped by our

warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime warranty."

I've reverted to an actual paper notepad.

For actual notes, yes, but a paper notepad can't cover all my needs. It's pretty hard to copy/paste to a paper notepad.

> nothing was fixed

The issue was determined to be a documentation issue and was assigned to that group to add a knowledge base article with additional information.

> like literally too, 20k films at let's say 30m average is 400+ continuous, unbroken days worth of content

You could run them in parallel, like a Zoom or Teams mtg, but with each square a different movie.

Would be more entertaining than the next status mtg.

that's a thing that "gooners" do.

How large a monitor would you have to have to play all these videos simultaneously in a jerkable resolution?

I don't think you can learn without doing the actual work where normal constraints apply so you can test and see the pros and cons of different approaches to different aspects of the problem(s).

You need a limited budget, limited timeline, limited capabilities in team and software tools+systems, and you need to be on the hook for support, maintenance and long term extensibility.

Software engineering is an optimization problem balancing all of the above and much more. There is no one answer to any problem, but more of a general sweet-ish spot (or more like region than spot) of balancing the competing priorities.

I built a little front end that allows me to group stuff easily so I can visit the site for short durations during the day without having to repeat sorting through items.

I have some checkboxes on articles and a couple manual buttons to trigger movement between groups when I'm ready.

Groups:

New - Not seen by my utility yet

Like Group A - Definitely want to come back to it later (maybe didn't complete, or has interesting comments still active)

Like Group B - Maybe want to come back to it later (maybe it's done, or maybe I'm only partially interested)

Old Group A - Most recent group of links pushed from New - separate from Old Group B to reduce volume of stuff to wade through if I change my mind about something

Old Group B - Older/definitely no longer interested stuff