I’m talking about programs that can’t be improved no matter what. They do exactly what they’re supposed to and will never be changed.
It’ll probably have to be something small, like cd or pwd, but does such a program exist?
TeX. Best documented source, and last bug found was 12 years ago.
The 2021 release of Tex included several bug-fixes, so not quite 12 years:
https://tug.org/texmfbug/tuneup21bugs.html
See also the following list of potential bugs, that may be included in the planned 2029 release of Tex:
https://tug.org/texmfbug/newbug.html
That said, Tex is still an impressive piece of software
wget.
There was a moment in time where maybe it was qmail:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qmail
Ten years after the launch of qmail 1.0, and at a time when more than a million of the Internet’s SMTP servers ran either qmail or netqmail, only four known bugs had been found in the qmail 1.0 releases, and no security issues.
More on how it was accomplished:
https://blog.acolyer.org/2018/01/17/some-thoughts-on-security-after-ten-years-of-qmail-1-0/
Logic gates?
Logic gates are hardware, not software
7zip?
Honestly, it all starts going to shite after “hello world.”
Shouldn’t it be “Hello world.”?
No. “Hello, world!” or you’re doing it wrong.
What does perfect hello world even mean? It can be realized in many ways and none is the best way.
Computers can’t even greet you in the real world. Its like some kind of sick joke.
“Dance, clanker! Dance!”
Hahahahah
deleted by creator
It was fault tolerant but I wouldn’t say it was perfect. There were plenty of “known issues”, and the fix in production was basically, “don’t do that”.
Automotive engine control computers.
They just work, for decades and millions of miles.
You may be interested by this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification.
Prominent examples of verified software systems include the CompCert verified C compiler and the seL4 high-assurance operating system kernel.
Depends on your definition of “perfect” and “improved”. Is it perfect because it does one fundamental thing really well? Is it improved by adding new features?
I think what you’re meaning is, is there a program that is ubiquitous (or at least works anywhere), will basically remain used forever because it does a fundamental job that will always need to be done, and it does that job in the most straightforward way possible that can’t be made any algorithmically simpler, faster, etc. Probably plenty, honestly. Bitwise operations, arithmetic, fetch/store, etc. Though ubiquity/working anywhere gets rarer the higher you go from hardware. Even your suggestion of cd, for example, has to interface with an OS’s file system, of which there are several common types. What it’s doing is simple in concept, but will always be dependent on other programs for the file system.
I don’t think such thing as perfect software exist, only abandoned software. If the environment changes, then the software needs changes too.
Or a new software.
Or a rewrite in Rust.
deleted by creator
Of course: https://github.com/kelseyhightower/nocode
Perfect code right here:
Ha. I still have an open PR on that.
Is there a perfect building?
Probably not, since they exist in an environment — which is constantly changing — and are used by people — whose needs are constantly changing.
The same is true of software. Yes, programs consist of math which has objective qualities. But in order to execute in the physical world, they have to make certain assumptions which can always be invalidated.
Consider fast inverse sqrt: maybe perfect, for the time, for specific uses, on specific hardware? Probably not perfect for today.
No; since every user defines the perfect program differently. Which should be the default behaviour(s)?
You cannot criticize a good knife by asking why it’s not a hammer.
A hammer is a completely different tool, but different defaults in a single program are not.
Point is there’s no objective standard for “perfect”
But I can critisize it for having only one sharp edge instead of 2. Or for being too short or too long. Or for having a handle that’s not shaped well for my hand. (That last metaphor is probably the correct one for the sentiment I’m going for.)
The answer remains, this tool is not flawed, it’s just not the one you want.
Vim could be feature-complete and formally verified and I’m still using Xed.
Software is always an ongoing conversation.
TempleOS
The dev of left-pad made it perfect by removing it.
