Software design has probably been broken from the start. The earliest business software, machine language encoded to punch cards, was more about fiddling registers and managing memory locations than doing arithmetic or implementing business logic. Even after you fast forward to Unix and compiled languages, software is still more about managing heap memory and arcane details like file or error pointers than it is about business logic.
Fast forward again to the first web apps and it seems like there’s an opportunity to put business logic in the center and the incidental complexity of the computer on the outsides. Alas, when web apps took off, most of their logic was written in scripting languages which often trade organizing code along boundaries for the thrill of just getting stuff done. Sometimes I don’t think we’ve outgrown that urge.
Software design has always started off on the wrong foot. Maybe we know better now, maybe we’re as lost as ever. Perhaps in the future I will only feign surprise when I come across working software that is not exactly ideal on the inside.
