> Save us the patronizing tone.
If you come out swinging you can't get mad when others swing back. You're not a victim, you're an instigator. You called danny_codes flippant for suggesting there are different biases. You called it absurd. You escalated it. And then you escalated it again.
> It doesn't tell us what the right course of action is in a particular situation.
That's because there is
never an objectively correct course of action. There is no optimal solution. In fact, there can't be when the situation evolves. The objective isn't even defined, let alone well defined. I don't understand your point because no one was suggesting it was
always the right answer. Don't strawman here. Of course it depends on the situation, that's true about almost everything. It doesn't need to be said explicitly because it's so well understood. Don't inject absolute qualifiers into statements that don't have them.
> I'm not making some outrageous claim here.
Your current claim? No. To be frank, you didn't claim much. But your prior claim? Yes. Yes you were. You were creating strawman then just as you did now.
>> Unlike algorithms and principles and even techniques, software is not eternal.
Not even algorithms are eternal. But I'm going to assume you're meaning the types of algoritms you see in textbooks because interpreting "algorithms" by its actual definition makes your comment weird. Since all programs are algorithms.
>> [Software] is ephemeral. It's shelf-life is bounded.
And this is going to be something nearly everyone is already going to assume. It doesn't need to be stated. It doesn't need to be differentiated
because it is already the working assumption.
>> You're not refining some theory or some grasp of a Platonic ideal
And this is the real strawman. You're made a wild assumption about what others are claiming. There is such a wide range of viewpoints between "the way things are done now" and "chasing perfection." Anyone that thinks perfection exists in code is incredibly naive. You and I both know this, and so does anyone working in industry or academia (save maybe some juniors). There's a huge difference between saying "this isn't good enough" and "it's not good until its perfect." If someone talks about climbing a mountain you can't respond by saying it is impossible to climb to the moon.
>> Whether you should refactor something, when you should refactor something, is a matter of prudential judgement, which is to say, of practical reason.
Whether you should do
anything is a matter of prudential judgement. It's wild to say this while accusing people of chasing perfection. You think people are just yoloing their way to perfection?! Seriously? The article and thread context is literally asking that people use
more prudential judgement. To not be myopic. And you have the audacity to say "think about it". What do you think we're doing here?