Why a Leopard is like a person: Notes on code

Reading the back and forth lately on my local Mac users forum about bugs and getting it right and updates and all, I got to thinking about similarities between computer code and human code in the form of DNA.

How many millions of years have gone by since the chimpanzee and genus homo separated genetically, with the time since spent in an endless Bayesian refining and recalculating by natural selection to get to where we are today?

I'd hazard a guess that time period is far longer than it's been since the core code of what became today's dominant computer operating systems was written.

So the fact that bugs and crashes occur shouldn't be a surprise; I mean, does anyone say that because people get sick and even die, the human OS is a failure and we should commit mass suicide?

I think not.

We try to do the best we can with what we have and improve in the future.

So with Leopard and its ilk: not perfect, but ever closer.

Be glad.

Be very glad.