"Change Vector"
lyrics by Benjamin Newman
ttto: "Hearthfire" by Ada Palmer (adapted)

/ Am - G - / / / F - E - /

Coding up late in the night
Doing research that might shed some light
On the question of how code can evolve
I was tracing a bug that I couldn't quite solve

	/ " / / Am - G E / Am - E - /

	Then I thought of a fix I'd not thought of before
	And I coded like mad until quarter past four
	And the source code compiled and tested correct
	Time to check in my work -- yes, but not the whole text, just the

		/ " / / / F - G Am /

		Change vector, change vector, diff every class header
		Merge and refactor and fold
		Track the code's trail by the, read the whole tale by the
		Difference between the new text and the old

Work done, I committed the patch but the
Push failed, some bytes didn't match
A bad checksum, somewhere in the disk
And I sighed to myself, well that's always a risk

	But then, that's the reason we always equip
	The server that stores all our sources and diffs
	With multiple hard drives, their bytes overlaid
	And a journal that tracks every mod that's been made, by its

		Change vector, data integrity inspector
		Redundant, reliable byte
		Back up the disk for me, mitigate risk for me
		Roll back the changes that aren't written right

So I rolled back, but again was betrayed
The corruption caused some kind of cascade
While at first I'd been merely annoyed
Now I looked and I saw the week's work was destroyed

	And behind my reflection that sobbed on the screen
	The face of a lady could dimly be seen
	And I turned to her, asking, my countenance numb
	Why we live in a world where file systems succumb to the

		Change vector, name wrecker, can't read bad disk sector
		Thought spiller, dream killer, dead
		Page tearer, rage bearer, dare you to say there's a
		Reason it's right when a file's wrongly read

Rant spent, I sank in my chair as the
Lady said: You're being unfair
When a build fails, you learn and move on
You can still learn a truth when the data is gone

	/ " / Am - G E / 1st / Am - E - /

	For your code updates the way all code updates
	Change itself is the one thing that cannot be changed
	As the tempfiles get purged, as your lives fork and merge
	Not exactly supported, but always maintained thanks to

		Change vector, plain in the DNA chain  
		Innovation, mutation, design
		Blind Mother gene-dancer, ask Her and She'll answer
		Accidents happen, and you're one of Mine!

Then She just smiled and laughed
And said: Show me all the crumpled-up drafts
Things half-written, that you keep in your soul
And I'll show you what I keep in version control

	And although details differed, the same pattern whispered
	In each one of Hers and in each one of mine
	In each bug and feature, song, story and creature
	They're all born the same, and they all bear some sign of the

		Change vector, shape bender, splatter of strange nectar
		Dream trickster, meme mixer, Muse
		All change is dissolving, so keep on evolving
		But back up the data you don't want to lose!