Hackers' Pub

Syntax	Description	Examples
`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

raganwald 🍓 @raganwald@social.bau-ha.us

1/11/2026, 2:57:21 PM

Public

Speaking of the fragility of enterprise software… Here's the robust architecture of an online banking system I used to lead. 3.5 million people trusted this with their life savings.

That TUI app written in MUMPS(!) once powered the terminal a bank teller would use to process an in-person transaction. It embodies and unambiguously encodes every business rule for transactions that have been developed over decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS

@pluralisticCory Doctorow

👇🏽

An XKCD "dependency" meme that describes the stack as "WebSphere, MQ, Oracle, J2EE, &c." and describes the critical dependency as "JDBC screen-scraping a teller app written in MUMPS."

Jay Wants to Garden 🏳️‍⚧️ @mxjaygrant@triangletoot.party

1/11/2026, 4:16:51 PM

Quiet public

@raganwaldraganwald 🍓 I worked for a very large fortune 50 and the entire financial stack for the company was held together by backup tape archives and bailing wire

Little sobering when you have the realization that the entire financial system is antiquated and super fragile @pluralisticCory Doctorow

If you have a fediverse account, you can quote this note from your own instance. Search https://triangletoot.party/users/mxjaygrant/statuses/115877361157187571 on your instance and quote it. (Note that quoting is not supported in Mastodon.)