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Comment by PH95VuimJjqBqy | Hacker News Reader

that's how you get companies to stop upgrading and eventually end up sitting on a 20 y/o version of C++.

2nd and 3rd order thinking is a thing.

If a company won't update because it really needs to depend on whether one bool compares greater to another then by all means they can stick to using 20 year old version of C++.

Other companies with modern engineering disciplines that don't write hacky code like that can benefit from a sane and sensible compiler instead of being dragged down.

If you can't understand how the expense of doing that may be onerous on a business then you shouldn't be let anywhere near decision making.

Too late for that, I am in a decision making position at a quant firm with very strict engineering standards and I absolutely stand by my decision that businesses that write code that compares booleans together like that should not be in a position to hold back other businesses that don't.

They can continue using 20 year old compilers and quit making the language worse for the rest of us who have put in the effort and cost of writing modern software.

It's always easy to make a decision when you're not the one paying the cost for it, or don't imagine you will be.

In fact, one of the red flags for decision makers is the inability to understand the above tenet.

I agree, asking everyone else to pay the cost of writing error prone code because they refuse to adapt but yet feel entitled to use new compilers is a big red flag and poor technical decision making that offloads the cost on the rest of the community.

I'm glad we managed to get that out of the way.

Companies that wish to stick with their existing and deprecated coding standards can stick to their existing and deprecated compilers, allowing those of is who wish to have safe and modern tools the freedom to make progress without their baggage holding us back.

oh snap guys, do you see what he did there in his parley? The way he took my point and pretended I was saying something else and that I really agreed with him. That technique so got me that he won!

This is most definitely the paragon that should be helping us decide which large swathe of people to fuck over.

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