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Is software ever done? (opensourcesecurity.io)
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[-] tfowinder@sh.itjust.works 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

They say LaTex is done so the version number approach pi. Everytime they update it they get closer to pi

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX

[-] BillyClark@piefed.social 18 points 6 days ago

That's TeX, not LaTeX.

Don Knuth (who originally wrote TeX) had a real obsession with perfection. He even thought he could pay exponentially increasing awards to people who found errors in his books.

He eventually stopped doing that because he wasn't as perfect as he thought he was. Still way off the charts compared to the average person, though.

[-] FizzyOrange@programming.dev 4 points 5 days ago

So perfect that everyone uses TeX, and no successors to it were ever developed.

[-] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 7 points 6 days ago

At some point the bugs are features.

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

"All observable behaviors of your system will be depended on by somebody."

[-] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

That someone will eventually be a hacker.

[-] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

İmportant distinction: TeX is considered "perfect software" IIRC while LaTeX has evolved over time (or was still evolving when I last used it in the 2000s)

[-] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago

Wow, they took the joke much further than πthon

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
46 points (97.9% liked)

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