@millihertz @suetanvil I think the main lesson is to say "no, that problem is not worth solving 'properly'". Especially if the cost of solving it is high. That doesn't require computer genius; it mostly requires stubbornness and ego. Saying no to features is hard.

@suetanvil A lot of those examples were all about refusing to solve the difficult problem and realising you could get away with it, however. Forth and Unix in particular. Even today, Forth tends towards radical iconoclasm.