Andrew Haglund

John Siracusa in ATP 701:

I see lots of discussion about “everyone will be making their own custom apps with vibe coding” or whatever. Software development is software development, even if you’re literally not writing the code. I’ve made an app and I think it works on all these test files and then you get a real file and you try and it doesn’t work, that happens with apps that humans code too, all the time.

That’s just app development. You’re like, “oh, I’m done with my app. I made this little tool and it’s great.” Well, have you? How many bugs does your little tool have? Probably a ton.

Whether you wrote it or whether an LLM wrote it, it’s probably filled with bugs.

And so you’re going to use it, and then you’re going to find more bugs, and there is no avoiding the maintenance of writing something, keeping it, working on it, and finding all of the bugs in all the dark corners where they’re hiding. There’s no escape from that, at least so far with current technology, with or without humans.

So, here I am making these toy apps to make my life easier. All it’s doing is reminding me that software development is software development, even if you’re not writing the code.

I think about this every time I make a new project with AI. I start thinking about the long term — will I still be interested in this in 3 months? Utilities. Sure. Go wild. But what about apps I want to rely on and use day to day? Am I really up to that and willing to support this?

So here we are back at “just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should” and the limiting factor is still my time and attention.

The point is: making good apps is hard. Making a great app is incredibly difficult. Even when the code is easy to make, that wasn’t really the hard and most people are going to want to futz with that. They just want something that works.

The Odyssey is such a triumph and just overwhelming (especially in IMAX) and I just keep thinking about it.

This movie could not have been made without first making Batman, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer with all the years of expertise Nolan and his team have accrued. (Very counter to AI-hypers who hope there’s a shortcut to creating durable and lasting art.)

On February 28, 1979, my paternal grandfather, Alex, sent a letter to the management of Northwestern Steel and Wire on its 100th anniversary:

I wish to extend my congratulations to your company on the occasion of its 100th Anniversary Date of its founding.

My recollections of the company are many and over a period of time, beginning with my first job in the office when I was in eighth grade, sorting payroll and company checks and reconciling the bank statements.

While in high school I worked in the office one summer and ran the switchboard. Unfortunately, I fooled around a little with Jack Hill and was fired.

Thereafter, your company furnished employment for me while in college during the summers of 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, and 1937. This employment was helpful as it enabled me to help pay my way through college.

My father, Arthur L. Haglund, started his employment with your company in 1913, and was employed there until 1950, when he retired.

My legal relationship with the company started when I first was employed by Carl E. Sheldon on January 1, 1946. He was Counsel to the company at that time and continued until his death in February, 1951.

Thereafter, our legal relationship continued, as I have been privileged to assist in legal matters for over 28 years to this date.

My association with the company, its officers, and employees has been very pleasant over the years. I wish the company continued success as it begins its second century.

Sincerely,

Alexander L. Haglund

My dad read this letter aloud with his brother and my brother in the room. We all met in Chicago to go to a Cubs game for Father’s Day, but it was postponed due to rain. (Bummer.) I figured I’d share this in spirit of the day.

A few things stood out to us:

• The fact that my grandpa was doing accounting for a big company as an eight grader if hilarious. If you knew my grandpa, you could definitely believe that.
• It’s a baller move to remind the company he was previously fired by the company.
• An interesting time and space: when my parental grandpa was working there in his college summers, my maternal grandfather was just being born!
• My great-grandfather, Arthur, off and on, worked for the mill for 37 years. Alex had the mill as a client for 36 years, at the time of this letter. That’s a long long time and something we don’t see too often these days where people jump companies every couple years.
• 1946 would have been right after World War II which Alex served in Europe.

Happy Father’s Day everyone.