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You know how folks inherit tools, workshops, or auto projects from parents and family? Stuff like wood working equipment, sewing machines, or whatever tools of the trade. It’s got me wondering, what’s it like for children that inherit their parents’ codebase, computers, keyboards. Surely with the growth of the tech sector and job market, compared to half a century prior, this could be a growing re-occurrence.
E.g. like the entire premise of this YouTube channel titled “Inheritance Machining”: https://youtu.be/hearLttbrLo
For example, my grandfather worked for IBM, and my family recalls growing up surrounded by punch cards around the house. Of course that form of programming only lasted so long, so the next generation was unlikely to reuse the same tools of the trade, but as tech stacks have matured and interfaces standardized, what are the chances are that folk’s children will use the same Linux kernel modules, custom mechanical keyboards or desktop chassis that their parents used today?
It seems to me that programming evolves too quickly for this to be a significant occurrence. Granted my dad switched careers away from programming when I was 3, but his experience and mine are radically different. Though the first programming I ever did was on one of his old programmable HP calculators.
Which I think is because it’s fairly new, only a generation or two, and a lot of the people who built the foundation is still around. I’ve been wondering what it’s gonna be like in a few generations when everyone who built the stuff we use now are long gone. Maybe some projects will be inherited by family.
What about physical or nonphysical items that span across decades of use?
Such as keyboards, i.e. every current revision of the almost 30 year old USB standard has been backwards compatible. Even then, many mechanical keyboard enthusiast covet, refurbish, and modify antique hardware peripherals such as IBM’s Model M.
Would it be a stretch to consider these artifacts as family heirlooms in the near future, just as a trapper’s musket rifle, a farmer’s scythe, a watchmakers lathe: tools that brought food to the table for one’s great great grandparents?
Or perhaps URL domains for sites that have either evolved or frozen in time?
I often wonder how I’ll handle the domain name registration of sites and blogs belonging to my elders. Will I just archive the data offline and let go of the domains, or upkeep the infrastructure for public posterity? Akin to how hereditary descendants since ancient times would pay homage to ancestors by maintaining a tombstone or a shrine, perpetuating their legacy and living memory.
No one I know in my generation inherited anything like that. Personally, the peripherals my dad had would be hopelessly out of date now. I am a mechanical keyboard nerd, so maybe if he had a nice one of those… but if he did it probably got thrown out or donated years ago. Of the computer hardware I own, I can’t think of much of it that would be valuable 10-20 years from now. I have mechanical keyboards, but they’re nothing special. Of course that’s just me.
I think there are two big differences: can the tool be maintained/restored when it’s 10-20 years old, and how fast do those kinds of tools evolve? None of my computers will be relevant as anything besides curiosities, nor will my plethora of microcontrollers, because the tools that will be available 10 years from now will be so much more powerful. If my soldering iron was nice enough to care about, that could be valuable 10-20 years from now because it’s dead simple; though maybe not, maybe the art of soldering will get to the point where irons are useless. I also do woodworking as a hobby - if I have kids and they’re into it, my planes and other high-quality hand tools could become heirlooms. On the other hand, none of my power tools are the level of quality that I expect to still be working in 20 years.
I can believe that some people are making websites/blogs/software/etc that their kids might take up. Linux has been around for over 30 years now. But that seems like a small minority - the software world is fickle and the number of projects that last that long is small.
But that seems like a small minority - the software world is fickle and the number of projects that last that long is small.
Indeed, although imagine the projects that do: a granddaughter resurrecting your repo and bringing a feature to completion well after your passing, such as porting it to use modern materials/libraries:
- “Resurrecting the Phoenix Clock || INHERITANCE MACHINING”
Where they have to dig through archived web forms and tutorials to find the manual/documentation that you would have used to put the project initially together. I’m sure there’ll be some content creators in the future telling the same stories as the one above, but via a newer medium and with a Computer Science twist.
What about carrying on a legacy with maintaining a intergenerational codebases? Like from a family owned business, a FOSS project, or hobby video game? Something that span’s across tech stacks, historic trends, and familial code authors, like the ship of Theseus crossed with Noah’s Ark (built with the help of Noah’s entire family over almost 100 years, as the theological mythology goes).
oh this brings me back to when i used to work in banking, i got the privilege to do maintenance on a “simple” piece that was kind of a cornerstone for one of the nightly tasks, it was created about 5 years before I was born
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