undefined | Better HN

0 pointst-32y ago0 comments

Hindsight is 20/20. Something that seemed like a good decision at the time may have been a good decision for the time, but not necessarily a great decision half a century later. That has nothing to do with engineering competency, only fortune telling competency.

I get that people here don't like profanity, but I don't see any slight in describing engineering decisions like optimizing for common workloads today over hypothetical loads tomorrow as 'fucking over the future'. Slightly hyperbolic, sure, but it's one of the most common decisions made in designing systems, and commonly causes lots of issues down the line. I don't see where saying something is a mistake that looks obvious in retrospect is a slight. Most things look obvious in tetrospect.

0 comments

eesmith2y ago

Again, "seemed like it made sense" expresses doubt, in the way that "it seems safe" expressed doubt that it actually is safe.

If you really meant your comment now, there was no reason to add "seemed like it" in your earlier text.

> I don't see any slight

You can see things however you want. The trick is to make others understand the difference between what you say and that utterances of an ignorant blowhard, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

You don't seem to understand the historical context, your issues don't make sense, your improvement seem pointless at best, and you have very firm and hyperbolic viewpoints. That does not come across as 20/20 hindsight.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse