An anecdote about backward compatibility
by speckx on 1/26/2026, 5:07:37 PM
https://blog.plover.com/2026/01/26/#wrterm
Comments
by: bob1029
IBM is the undisputed king of backward compatibility. There is code running on mainframes right now that is going on 50 years old. Microsoft is a close #2 with windows.<p>I'd probably consider using IBM if it wasn't so goddamn weird and expensive. I suppose all that backward compatibility does have its downsides. Windows feels a bit weird in some places too, but at the same time it didn't start out life as a typewriter.
1/31/2026, 8:37:50 AM
by: mikelitoris
For those who don’t get it: It’s referring to the ink soaked ribbon that would print characters on a piece of paper, similar to a typewriter. This is a preceding technology to digital consoles. Also why most programming languages refer to outputting a string to stdout as “print”.
1/31/2026, 8:20:05 AM