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As a Montrealer, I'm not sure I'm understanding "the Montreal" problem. Is it simply that we are a very bilingual city? If so, it feels like a pretty crummy analogy, because our bilingualism is a boon.

Is it an architecture thing? Because that's another great aspect of Montreal.

Maybe something like "the peanut-butter-and-anchovy" problem or the "circus at a funeral" problem.



Author here. It wasn't meant to be a knock on Montreal. But on code bases that have very apparent different eras and styles.

The idea actually came from a podcast interview with a C++ expert. We talked about some parts of any large C++ code base looking like Old Montreal and some looking like Art Deco or whatever other style.

To me it was a very accurate and memorable metaphore but I get why it hits wrong for many.

Montréal is a beautiful City that has a mix of styles. Thats great for the city, just not great in a big code base.

Clearly I need a better term.


Not a knock on Montreal, just a flavorful comparison to a real-world phenomenon.

> But as code grows, it’s like Montreal. Every part of the city is different.

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It's like "Cathedral vs Bazzar." No slight against cathedrals or bazzars; these are just colorful analogies for design/organization philosophies.




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