This thread on Hacker News terrifies me

[Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa)]

On 09/02/2018 07:17 PM, Gambler wrote:
> 
> But in general, I believe the statement about comparative reliability of
> tech from 1970s is true. I'm perpetually impressed with is all the
> mainframe software that often runs mission-critical operations in places
> you would least expect.

I suspect it may be because, up until around the 90's, in order to get 
any code successfully running on the computer at all, you pretty much 
had to know at least a thing or two about how a computer works and how 
to use it. And performance/efficiency issues were REALLY obvious. Not to 
mention the institutional barriers to entry: Everyone didn't just have a 
computer in their pocket, or even in their den at home.

(Plus the machines themselves tended to be simpler: It's easier to write 
good code when a single programmer can fully understand every byte of 
the machine and their code is all that's running.)

In the 50's/60's in particular, I imagine a much larger percentage of 
programmers probably had either some formal engineering background or 
something equally strong.

But now, pretty much anyone can (and often will) cobble together 
something that more-or-less runs. Ie, there used to be a stronger 
barrier to entry, and the machines/tools tended to be less tolerant of 
problems.