Here's to history: programming through archaeology
summary
Applies archaeological practices — stratigraphy, context and praxis — to real git histories, using concrete tools like git bisect, git blame and regression tests to locate and fix bugs. Gives specifics: a status code silently changed from 403 to 404 in a 2012 commit; an Indonesian launch (eighth region) causes locale leakage into acceptance specs via rack test; uses bisect/blame to isolate and repair the regressions. Cites readership numbers (10M onsite, 30M via republication, 1.1B reads) to show scale.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (34)
- 0:00Start
- 3:06THE CONVERSATION
- 4:45history! programming...?
- 6:08Stratigraphy and context
- 7:35What is archaeology?
- 8:12archaeology is a study
- 9:23archaeology is an interpretation
- 9:48individual action and human intention
- 10:39purpose
- 11:19activities performed for their own sake
- 12:17knowledge of the world
- 13:21code is interpretation
- 13:39code forces code
- 13:52potential for alternate explanations
- 14:58Context and stratigraphy
- 16:37stratigraphy is a sequence
- 16:55why events occurred
- 17:12formed and preserved
- 17:37history lesson
- 23:41relationships through association
- 23:53programmers
- 24:12history, issues, pull requests
- 24:59git checkout master
- 25:17403 forbidden 404 not found
- 26:06programming is a never-ending detective story
- 28:26Simple Easy
- 29:38short ( 72 chars) summary in the imperative
- 30:07code isn't always self-evident
- 30:47skill with craft
- 31:22human intent and desire of making and creating
- 31:39technology has defined us
- 32:00technology for the mundane
- 32:24technological changes as adaptions to problems
- 33:10What's your intention in the archaeological record?
