Opinion: those who maintain the software which runs our computer systems and apps face many unseen trials and tribulations.

First published on RTÉ Brainstorm, on Wednesday, 03 February, 2021.

Imagine your boss calls you next Monday morning. "Listen, about that War and Peace novel. It isn’t doing so good. We’ve had some customer feedback, and the problem seems to be that Pierre Bezuhkov character. The readers think he’s so full of empathy that he’s totally unbelievable. So Jones, I want you to take the character and make him a bit less empathetic."

This sounds like an easy and reasonable request. After all, the royalties help pay your salary. But you soon realise that you need to look at every paragraph where Pierre appears, making some changes to what he says and what he does in each.

Read the full article by Dr Jim Buckley of Lero, UL.