“Modularity based on abstraction is the way things get done” --Barbara Liskov

Something as big and complex as the internet, which covers technologies from email to fiber, is held together by layered abstractions.

Also, software has gotten incredibly better since the 70s. We've built so much better tooling (and I believe tooling can help close the gap on growing complexity). When I was learning how to program, I had to double check I had every semicolon in the right place before hitting compile. I simply don't have to do that anymore. I can even get an entire API auto-completed using something like copilot on VSCode.

Nonetheless, a very thought-provoking article. Thank you for sharing!