Nate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022

The Progress of Software Engineering, 1989-2022

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Distributed_Objects

<< Portable Distributed Objects (PDO) is an application programming interface (API) for creating object-oriented code that can be executed remotely on a network of computers.. created by NeXT Computer, Inc. using their OpenStep system >>

<< The ability to instantiate any object known to the local process from any other process is a known security vulnerability, and Apple strongly discourages use of PDO for that reason. >>

Portable Distributed Objects - Wikipedia

Show threadNate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022
The ability to instantiate any Concept known to a human mind inside any other human mind by means of Speech is a known security vulnerability, and the United Network Command Office for Operational Logistics strongly discourages use of Speech for that reason.
Show threadNate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022

The thing that annoys me about the failure of distributed objects as a programming paradigm is that,

in the 1990s, you could not go anywhere in computing without being utterly hammered by the message that Objects and especially Distributed Objects were The Future Here Now, this was it, Programming was Solved Forever, if you didn't Get It you were just Wrong

and we just sorta slid from there into "actually distributed objects are terrible never use them"

but never acknowledging that change.

Show threadNate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022

It's not just the 1990s Distributed Objects people being so loud and aggressive and moneyed-up and preachy

It's not just that their tech was terrible and dangerous and caused billions in security damage

It's not just that the industry changed its mind about something it was so passionately furious scorched-earth in favour of

*It's the never admitting any fault* that gets me.

The computing industry often acts like an abusive gaslighting bully, and that behaviour is still going on today.

Show threadNate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022

I feel like there's probably a very strong correlation between the 1990s interest in Distributed Objects and the 1990s interest in Outsourcing.

This whole post-Cold War sense of openness, everything should talk to everything, which is fine, but, not enough thought put into how to make it safe.

Show threadcregoxJun 2, 2022
@natecull you lost me at "object". 🤣
Show threadNate Cull (.social)

@cregox

I mean we got Objects, lots of 'em, at all scales.

The part that we now seem to think is super-toxic, though, is "what if you could just load Objects straight into memory from another computer over the wire"

like not buffered by scripts and compilers and firewalls and such, just jacking raw bits

That's the part that was the most exciting and new about the Object vision, and it's also the part that seems to have caused the most pain, when it worked, which wasn't all that often.

Jun 2, 2022 at 5:18amWeb
Show threadcregoxJun 2, 2022
@natecull but...

#braindumb

i still find it insanely hard to understand and intriguing to think about.

at this point, i love to think i would just grab you by your hand and drag you away from the crowd, somewhere we could keep on talking until i could get what you mean. 😁

i guess i should've instead stop using so many subjective words and getting on more practical instances...
Show threadcregoxJun 2, 2022
@natecull i feel like writing a separate post for it, though. without mention, perhaps. writing it now... coming out soon! 😁
Show threadNate Cull (.social)Jun 2, 2022

@cregox

Sorry, I wasn't intending to be cryptic, I was just grumping about industry trends and buzzwords I lived through 30 years ago, and by extension, the habit of the industry even today to be driven by trends which it then discards.

The various "distributed object" technologies were and are insanely hard to understand, yes. That's why I've never really liked them, and why they're often now considered security problems. Complexity generally leads to failures.

Show threadcregoxJun 2, 2022
@natecull nothing to be sorry about! 🤣🤣🤣

i thank you for the #mindfuck inspiration. 🐢
Show threadcregoxJun 2, 2022
@natecull complexity always leads to failure... and wonder! 🌞