one example i come back to is multithreaded layouting/rendering browser engines. it was mentioned in the servo blog post back then when mozilla worked on it: "we tried it in c++ but it was simply too hard and complicated" (the argument was that they were able to do it in rust). still, as long as rust wasn't avaiable, the problem was considered "too hard" for the team that wrote firefox. in my opinion that's a solid argument for "programming problem that was too hard".
but as simon said, i too consider coming up with "the algorithms, the strategy" as part of programming. saying "it's easy to do if you know exactly how to do it" is somewhat tautological.
which balance? orban was a parasite, trying to embezzle as much money from the EU without getting the boot (hungary as the biggest per-head receiver of EU funds), while probably also getting paid by russia - a hostile actor - for his actions (i.e. sabotaging the union and sowing dissent through propaganda). there was no balance there.
His options were limited. Aside from his tirades against the EU, he was completely dependent on it, as it financed half the country – Hungary was the largest per capita recipient of EU funds. This was also the reason why he never seriously attempted to leave the Union.
He could now take certain steps, such as eliminating press freedom, but election fraud on the scale that would have been necessary to skew this election would have led to sanctions.
yes - i am so relieved. this was a real conundrum for the EU - booting hungary out would have been a huge problem (i.e. opening the door for a russian stronghold right in its mid), but keeping orban in would mean the a) abuse continued and b) it would send a signal to others that this is a winning strategy.
democracy may suffer from the problem that it allows the election of anti-democratic autocrats but it seems that it's definitely able to come back from the brink, even if the deck's stacked against it. i wonder what message it sends to the other countries.
But that's also a fee that's trivial for well funded criminal malicious parties shipping harmful trash but too high for serious open source developers shipping free software.
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