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Kevin Barrett wonders whether code written before 2025 will turn out to be like low background steel: useful because it is unpolluted by what humans have done to themselves.
I suspect pre-2025 software will be more like serpentine brick walls.
Wavy brick walls are cool, but they also have a more useful property: they can be built with fewer bricks, because the undulations add strength and stability. When bricks are expensive, but labor cheap, they make economic sense.
Modern walls are double-brick straight masonry. They use more bricks, but they’re much less labor intensive. Bricks are cheap nowadays, but labor is expensive.
Pre-2025 software may prove to like crinkle crankle walls: economically rational for the constraints they were built under. Thin, elegant, surprisingly strong, and carefully designed to fit their landscape.
Post-2025 software might end up like double-brick walls: thick, inelegant, solid through sheer volume, but fundamentally still a fine wall.