I found one of my first programs (Java, 2011) on the Wayback Machine and it runs

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A developer rediscovering a 2011 Java crossword-filling program via the Wayback Machine prompts stories of decades-old software still running in production, from Perl scripts and Java applets to Objective‑C iOS apps and DOS tools. Commenters highlight how ecosystems like Java, Emacs Lisp, C, and old IDEs have maintained strong backward compatibility, contrasting them with more fragile, fast‑churning stacks such as JavaScript build tools or early Go and TypeScript projects. Many also reflect on the Internet Archive’s role as a “memory of the web,” preserving personal projects, shareware, and even obscure media long after their original hosts disappeared.

Finding and Running Old Code

  • Many commenters share stories of rediscovering decades‑old programs (Perl, Java, Turbo Pascal, BASIC, HyperCard, Amiga, C64, etc.) and getting them running via emulators or on modern systems.
  • Several note that “temporary” or stopgap systems written quickly (e.g., a Perl publishing workflow from 2002, database publishing platforms, small Perl utilities) ended up in long‑term production and are still heavily used, often disliked but too entrenched to replace.
  • Others failed to recover old work because media (5.25" floppies, tapes) or ecosystems (Flash, Java applets, early iOS, legacy Python GUIs) have decayed or lost runtime support.

Wayback Machine & Digital Preservation

  • Strong appreciation for the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine as a “society‑wide memory” preserving old sites, images, videos, and even obscure files.
  • Some donate regularly and encourage others to do so, while one commenter worries that legal judgments might simply divert donations to lawsuit plaintiffs.
  • People report successfully using Wayback to recover lost images and personal projects that no longer exist on the live web.

Language and Platform Longevity

  • Java is repeatedly cited as a standout for binary and source backward compatibility: jars from the late 1990s–2000s often still run on current JVMs.
  • Others note similar longevity for Objective‑C iOS apps, Emacs Lisp, Common Lisp, Erlang, Fortran, C, and old Windows executables.
  • There is debate over whether Java is uniquely strong here versus “older” or more niche languages, and how much the Lindy effect applies given ecosystem size.
  • Some highlight that applets and CORBA are effectively dead and that internal APIs and deprecated features have been pruned in newer Java versions.

Tooling, Ecosystems, and Churn

  • Java build tools: Maven is praised for stability and declarative configs; Gradle is seen as more fragile over time despite the wrapper.
  • Other ecosystems (TypeScript/Node, Go pre‑modules, C++ with CMake) are criticized for dependency and tooling churn that makes old projects hard to build.
  • Decompilers (Fernflower/Vineflower, JD‑GUI) and tools like CheerpJ and appletviewer are suggested for reviving or inspecting old Java code.

Nostalgia and Reflections

  • Many reflect on how much has changed since the 1990s–2010s (web, tooling, frameworks) yet how simple, framework‑free code (plain JS, small scripts) often still works.
  • There’s recurring humor about “write once, read never,” “nothing more permanent than the temporary,” and realizing code outlives both its authors’ careers and sometimes its users’ birthdates.