Explain to me like I’m 5…is software really that hard?

[CharonPDX]

Yes software is hard.

The software I support just made a major update today - that completely broke the ability to "select a page number in the output". Part of a major overhaul of that product feature to improve usability, and the engineering team just completely neglected to consider that customers with large lists of data may want a method to go through those lists other than "next page, next page, next page, next page".

That isn't something AI can fix. That was a design oversight. Telling AI "make this part of the product easier" wouldn't have caught this.

The previous version at least had the ability to manually type a page number in the URL. That was removed in the new version because they made the page rendering of the table "live", so the URL doesn't impact it.

Sure, they made search and filtering better, but not every user knows what they're searching for, they may just want to page through 500 pages of data over time. And if they leave and come back, they want to pick up where they left off. They can't do that now.

Edit: Oh god… The engineer primarily responsible just let me know that there is still the "modify the URL" - it's just that we base64 encode the parameters now, instead of having them plain.

Where previously the url would end in "?search=test&size=100&page=5" for example, now the URL ends in "eyJxIjoidGVzdCIsInBzIjoxMDAicCI6NTB9".

So to change pages, the customer has to copy the base64, decode it, modify the page number, re-encode it, then paste it. Yes, much more usable…..

Sponsored

 

[justinkitswa]

I can't imagine the sheer volume of code needed to fully operate a vehicle as complicated as an EV, especially the way Rivian does it where everything is in-sourced.

Companies like Ford, GM, Toyota all out-source some portion of code development to the likes of Bosch, Continental, etc. So while the infotainment on a Ford is likely some abomination they created from scratch, the code running on the ECU likely came from a supplier like Continental.

Rivian, as far as I know, writes everything for everything in-house. So the responsibility of making sure the battery pack doesn't overheat and meltdown falls somewhere along the list of priorities as the Halloween light show last October.

I've learned over time to cut a lot more slack to the overall operating environment on these things. As long as the important stuff works, I can live with the rest.

 

[CharonPDX]

You want to know how hard it is to code….

Simple test, write the steps to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Give it to someone else to execute. They need to follow the steps exactly, no interpretation of what you meant, can’t do anything you did not write.

It can be funny to watch and will give some great insight into the required detail needed for such a simple process.

That was an assignment in my college technical writing class. To *FULLY* document how to make a sandwich. If the professor did not successfully have an edible sandwich at the end of following your instructions, you got an F. (It could be any kind of sandwich *OTHER* than PB&J)

The only A my term (not me, I got a B - "unclear on correct application method of mayonnaise") on that assignment had instructions ~50 pages long. With proper "technical drawings", not photographs.

 

[SwampNut]

Explain to me like I’m 5…is software really that hard?

Yes.

Reminds me of one of this month's bug fixes, which is comically intricate/weird/something:

• Fixed an issue that dropped the center audio channel if you adjusted the accent lighting theme and heard its audio while also listening to Dolby Atmos music.

 

[RoadtripEV]

Yes.

Reminds me of one of this month's bug fixes, which is comically intricate/weird/something:

• Fixed an issue that dropped the center audio channel if you adjusted the accent lighting theme and heard its audio while also listening to Dolby Atmos music.

As someone who currently runs a software startup and has been in software for 25 years (in every position), this cracks me up.

The QA edge cases can really blow your mind. And its never automated regression tests that find these bugs, its always an end user.

"Fixed a bug where the drivers side window intermittently rolled down while driving 37 MPH, eating a burger, seatbelt unbuckled and the music volume was over 20."

 

[NY_Rob]

Is software hard??? Outlook says "hold my beer!!"

 

[hammick]

Yes, software is hard. Especially when you have five-year olds writing it like GM does.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Yes, software is hard. Especially when you have five-year olds writing it like GM does.

So how old are Microsoft employees?

 

[babylou]

Yes, software is hard. Especially when you have five-year olds writing it like GM does.

Well those are some badass kids because my wife's Cadillac Lyriq software works perfectly with vastly superior phone integration and mapping. Hate the chassis though!

 

[chimpanzee]

Software dev is super easy. Just ask the other C-Suites at my place of employment who have been convinced by LLMs that they should be developing their own web apps.

Here's an awesome new tool I made with proprietary business logic visible in the raw code. Don't worry, I had three other models sanity check the version that the first model vomited out for me. I don't know what it means, but for this to really work all we need is Graph ReadWrite.All permission. Can you help?

 

[stormbreaker]

I used to be hard. Not anymore. AI can write the code in a fraction of the time required. What would take months is a few hours. I suspect RIVIAN is concerned about software privacy and it's a very valid concern. That said, I'm sure they will figure it out. So a year ago, it would take a team and months. Now, it's far simpler.

My goodness. Even with Claude what your saying is silly. Claude can write entire features, but without the proper context, etc it will cause so many more problems than if you just write it manually.

Are you a engineer?

 

[Jeremy3292]

As someone who currently runs a software startup and has been in software for 25 years (in every position), this cracks me up.

The QA edge cases can really blow your mind. And its never automated regression tests that find these bugs, its always an end user.

"Fixed a bug where the drivers side window intermittently rolled down while driving 37 MPH, eating a burger, seatbelt unbuckled and the music volume was over 20."

How do those crazy cases even get into the software code to begin with?

 

[SwampNut]

How do those crazy cases even get into the software code to begin with?

That is so hard to explain without also teaching you how to write software. This is an explanation from the new Siri AI, which is actually really damn good AI. (To be released in a month or two I think.)

Edge cases are rare, extreme scenarios that fall outside a software's normal expected use, such as a user entering an unusually long name into a small text box. Bugs related to these cases get into software because developers often focus on typical user behavior and overlook these unusual situations during design and testing.
Common reasons these bugs slip through include:
Unpredictable Users People interact with software in unexpected ways, like copying emojis into fields meant for addresses.
Incomplete Planning Developers may not fully consider extreme conditions when outlining how a new feature should work.
Testing Gaps Standard testing often focuses on normal usage, missing the boundary conditions where these bugs hide.
System Complexity As software grows, the interactions between different parts can create unforeseen issues that are hard to catch.
Keep in mind, I'm an assistant powered by AI and may make mistakes. Always verify important details.

 

[JacobAZ]

How do those crazy cases even get into the software code to begin with?

In my experience, after we analyzed these cases, most of these are introduced not when code is originally written, rather when modifications are made to the code months or years later by a person who did not originally write the code.

Developing new software systems and maintaining the systems require different skill sets. New software relies heavily on the ability work from a blank page. The developers use their own thought processes and logic to build the software. In a complex system a specific piece of software may interface with other seemingly unrelated components. A good developer will understand this and design/code accordingly. So, the edge cases are avoided. For the maintenance programmer, the software is already written. The software engineer must get inside the original developers head to understand the logic and design to then modify code within this logic (a different skill). Even the best maintenance programmers may not see all of these outside the norm relationships, since they are focused on a specific modification and not the entire picture. Good integration testing will often catch the errors, but not always.

This all gets back to the complexity of developing large software systems. Coding a single thing is not necessarily complex. It's getting all the pieces working together perfectly which is.

 

[hammick]

Well those are some badass kids because my wife's Cadillac Lyriq software works perfectly with vastly superior phone integration and mapping. Hate the chassis though!

Please explain the vastly superior phone integration and mapping. Our '26 Sierra EV has recently received several OTAs with no new features other than the half bake vision recorder update. Still not pet mode, camp mode, etc. It will never have digital key even though it was a promised feature on the build configurator and in the manual.

The hardware is solid and the UI is snappy but the interface is crap compared to Rivian's IMHO.

Sponsored