throwawaylabor

Make build configurations can be difficult to understand for newcomers in the industry. If the goal is to obscure the code, by all means continue using the older tools.

If the goal is continued maintenance, then encouraging new engineers to explore and read the codebase with tools they can comprehend is critical.

disclaimer: have not used these particular tools, but the domain is nice and polite

The hyperbole here is amazing. You're saying that a 40 year old computer program that runs exclusively on windows is as un-changable as a _law of nature_.

The english comparison made in a peer comment is more apt, but wow.

The tech industry is so self-centered we think that Scientists should change their fields because of our bugs.

I mean, every programmer who funnels through university understands map reduce, and that helps on multi-core threading up to system job running

I wish this were true. There is a high degree of variability between skillsets from different American universities, even in my state of Washington.

Other than that, I agree whole heartedly.

I think GP is saying that the value of LHC is greater than the marginal value of 2 bombers when you already have 18.

LHC would be one way to use that some of that "waste" in defense spending more wisely.

Regarding "practical" study-- Where you see value in the output of engineering work, those guiding the work of engineers see value in the output of scientific work. If we had more people of the latter type that appreciated the value of scientific work, we might have more productive engineers and developers.