> This is completely wrong, it's not pointless.
Pretty reliable rule of software is: if you think it's pointless you probably don't understand it well enough.
Pretty reliable rule of software is: if you think it's pointless you probably don't understand it well enough.
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.
Chesterton's Fence neatly saves the utterly pointless fences in our lives, regardless of the damage they can cause.
If you don't immediately see its use, you should do some more thinking/archeology.
Applied properly, the principle of Chesterton's Fence should provide you with the impetus to observe and learn about the subject. In software, that could involve creating/improving tests, diagramming method/API invocations, monitoring network traffic, etc. As a result of your observations, you should understand the subject deeply enough to determine whether it can be removed safely. If it can't be safely removed, you now have documentation justifying its existence (which may, in some cases, form the basis for a plan to migrate, deprecate, and remove).
IPv6 designs are only similar to the first half of that statement. If it's in IPv6, it's because someone wanted it there. The people designing IPv6 had almost 2 decades of operational experience running IPv4 to draw from. Things were intentional.
That being said: in this specific case you're right.
differentiating the specific cases where the seemingly pointless solution is actually the best way to solve a problem from the cases where the problem could be solved a different way that eliminates the need for the seemingly pointless solution from the cases where the solution is actually just a pointless flourish.