> Babbage considered using number systems other than decimal including binary as well as number bases 3, 4, 5, 12, 16 and 100. He settled for decimal out of engineering efficiency - to reduce the number of moving parts - as well as for their everyday familiarity.
Whoa. Slow down. They have only confirmed replacing their custom configuration language with JavaScript and hinted at an official JavaScript module [1], as opposed to the existing third-party module [2].
Bundling a Node.js-like JavaScript api layer with their official module would be a logical next step, because nginx is an event loop anyway. But, I highly doubt JavaScript will be anywhere near the Nginx core.
I have an alternative, and potentially equally silly, hypothesis.
Many programmers are young and have just enough money, time, and knowledge to get into trouble.
This is compounded by the growth rate of the programming field. New, young, programmers jump into the industry every year. So, a young programmer can potentially encounter entire teams of equally young programmers, creating a school like atmosphere of aggression and dominance. (Which is sometimes taken advantage of by employers.)
It's been said that the population of programmers doubles every ~5 to 10 years. And, that loosely correlates to the hype cycle of "hot technologies".
I don't think it's possible to avoid a pop culture with that many young and inexperienced programmers, especially with a cultural emphasis on self-training over mentoring.
> The moon landing really was nothing compared to this.
I used to believe that, but I have slowly moved to the other side.
Things are complicated. There is no doubt about that. But, landing on the moon was a fight against nature (gravity, air, distance, etc). Current programming is a fight against stuff someone else dreamed up and no one ever fixed, because "LOL, that's old school" or "You're just doin' it wrong".
Most of the points about parts not being specified correctly, not working as expected, or disappearing happens all the time in other industries. (That's one reason hardware kickstarters fail so often.)
Consumers do not get a break. At LensCrafters, the average cost for a pair of frames and lenses is about $300. You may think -- well, there's choice in the mall for other glasses. But Luxottica doesn't only own the top eyewear chain in the country, it owns another large chain: Pearle Vision, and Oliver Peoples, and several boutique chains. And it runs Target Optical and Sears Optical. And we're not done, Luxottica also owns Sunglass Hut - the largest sunglass chain in the world.
The cost of frames is not based on the cost of traditional manufacturing. Luxottica controls the market, like De Beers and the diamond market.
http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/engines/