Get the latest tech news

It's time to abandon the cargo cult metaphor


The cargo cult metaphor is commonly used by programmers. This metaphor was popularized by Richard Feynman's "cargo cult science" talk with a...

The ancestors lived inside a volcano on Manum Island, where they worked hard making goods for their descendants: loin-cloths, socks, metal axes, bush-knives, flashlights, mirrors, red dye, etc., even plank-houses, but the scoundrelly Whites took the cargoes. 18 Attenborough travels through the island of Tanna and encounters many artifacts of the John Frum cult, such as symbolic gates and crosses, painted brilliant scarlet and decorated with objects such as a shaving brush, a winged rat, and a small carved airplane. Go, hatred of Perl, key rotation, layoffs, MBA programs, microservices, new drugs, quantum computing, static linking, test-driven development, and updating the copyright year are just a few things that are called "cargo cult".

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of Time

Time

Photo of Metaphor

Metaphor

Photo of cargo cult

cargo cult

Related news:

News photo

It’s time for Apple to modernize its iCloud storage tiers

News photo

Coyote Time: What Games Can Teach Us About Forgiveness in Learning

News photo

Apple's AirPods Pro 2 are on sale for the first time this year