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A comment on The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad. Parent comment

Re:The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad by roel_v on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @07:33AM (#3265237)
Of course not, it's hyperbole to illustrate the point. In the specific cases of Qmail and TeX, the 'bug free' aspect of it however is overblown and a marketing gimmick. It's not that hard (given enough time) to make something bug free, it's a whole different thing when the software needs to evolve at the same time to meet the (changing and expanding) requirements of actual users.
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Re:The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad by Joeri on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @01:43PM (#3266749)
Are you implying that qmail and tex don't have actual users?

The point those packages make is that some problems can have a solution that lasts years or decades instead of mere months.

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Re:The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad by roel_v on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @03:37PM (#3267235)
How many people are using just TeX, and how many just qmail in production systems (i.e., not on their local workstation)? Very few.
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Re:The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad by EdiX on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @03:14PM (#3267139)
Actually, the reason for not evolving/rewriting TeX is so that old documents can be typeset and produce the same results. I find that an appealing goal.
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Re:The price of a messy codebase: No LaTeX on the iPad by RBerenguel on Tuesday November 22, 2011 @09:18AM (#3265563)
TeX wasn't born in a night and suddenly appear in binary form. Knuth worked a hell lot to make it clean, make it work and make it fast. At least, for when he wrote it. Go and read The TeXbook
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