• 1968: "Software crisis" coined at first NATO Software Engineering conference, which was a key moment in computing history.
• 1969: Apollo 11 mission launched with advanced engineering practices. Last NATO Software Engineering conference held in October.
• 1972: Edsger Dijkstra stated perceived cause of software crisis as increase in hardware complexity and speed without proper organizational methods.
• Current: "Software crisis" not much in current programming conversation. We think we've "figured it out" with minor difficulties.
• Comfort state: Due to defeat and acceptance rather than true comfort. We form mental models to avoid thinking about software details.
• Efforts: Various efforts to address software crisis follow "abstract it away" pattern, sacrificing performance. Early advancements needed hardware upgrades.
• Personal computing: As it grew popular, "abstract it away" became default. Nested layers of abstractions were developed.
• Software industry: Accelerated release cycles and capital influence led to death of individual developer. Users have little control.
• Solution: Not a return to constrained platforms but a limit on abstraction layers and information preservation. Programming models, user interfaces, and hardware should be shallow and composable.
• Counterculture movements: Such as Handmade and Permacomputing, show awareness of software crisis. We're realizing how deep in it we are.