Software runs the world, and there are two kinds: disposable code and durable code.

[usonian]

Posted in GD for general education of non-computer junkies.
https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/disposable-code-is-here-to-stay

Background:
Lately, AI is being used to write code quickly, but you sometimes get different code each time you ask, and commonly used functions are basically reinvented each time, whereas "old" coding puts those functions into known and well-tested libraries that anyone can call up and be sure of the same accurate result.

We used to do "rapid prototyping". Cooking up short programs on the spot to do a job and say goodbye to them,
One job I had was to create a variety of plots of experiment data. Once the experimenter was done plotting data for the device under test, it was never used again. Neat thing for me was that once I delivered it, he never asked for any fixes. It just worked. Sometimes, you win.

Disposable code vs. durable code

The uses for disposable code have exploded since ChatGPT was released: design mocks, experiments, data processing scripts, exploration, prototypes, hobby apps, and more. You generate some code to do a thing, you do the thing, you throw it away. Generate ten thousand variants and let them fight it out, if you feel like it. It’s so cheap and easy, it feels like magic.

And then there’s the code that we rely on for bank transactions, package deliveries, medical results, satellite launches, airline flight paths, self-driving cars, mortgage payments, and nuclear power plants. This is durable code, and it’s going to stay that way.

Durable code is used when the stakes are high, the losses are material, the ripple effects of failure or performance changes throughout the system are complex and unpredictable. Highly regulated industries require durable software. From a risk management perspective, people need to be able to read the code and understand the system, so they can follow the money or respond to customer complaints, hundreds or thousands of times a day.

Here’s one (unscientific) rule of thumb: the lower on the stack you go, the closer you get to laying bits down on disk, the more dependable and predictable our software has to be. Databases and operating systems will be durable code til the stars die out.

And a big point: The cost of software is defined by its maintenance

Durable code runs important, critical stuff that needs to be validated, updated and maintained. And maintained by people who are new and didn't write it, so the code has to be documented, so that new people can understand it before changing anything.

Disposable code is basically run once or a few times, and never need it again. It can be sloppy, and in the real world,m it can choke on unexpected data, because you never run into it.

I hope this helps explain some of the "magic" you hear about software.
Only an irresponsible jerk would play fast and loose with software that lives depend on..