# Rube Goldberg Software Devices

**URL:** <https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140>\
**Category:** blog\
**Created:** [April 4, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140 "2005-04-04T00:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/1 "2005-04-04T00:00:00Z")

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Rube Goldberg software design is the meme of the month, after being parodied by [Rory Blyth and Scott Hanselman in this brilliant short video](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7192107253321481602&q=scott+and+rory), and oddly enough, also currently appearing in Microsoft advertisements:

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original blog entry at: [http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/04/rube-goldberg-software-devices.html](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/04/rube-goldberg-software-devices.html)

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/2 "2005-04-05T00:00:00Z")

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If you want to get your TIM and TIM2 on, they can be downloaded from here:

[http://www.abandonia.com/genre.php?genre=puzzlepage=0](http://www.abandonia.com/genre.php?genre=puzzlepage=0)

Runs great under DosBox…

[http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/](http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/)

…just be sure to set the CPU cycles to something like 10,000 from the ultra-low default of 3,000.

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**Author:** ![DominicC](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@DominicC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/DominicC)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/3 "2005-04-05T00:00:00Z")

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Perhaps sadly, Rube Goldberg means nothing to me. The artist best known in the UK for such crazy contraptions was Heath Robinson.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.\_Heath\_Robinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson)

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**Author:** ![Dan\_F](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@Dan\_F](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Dan_F)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/4 "2005-04-05T00:00:00Z")

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Reminds me of DTS packages in SQL server: Set it up, click the button, pray 🙂

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**Author:** ![BrianS](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/c6cbf5/32.png) [@BrianS](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/BrianS)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/5 "2005-04-13T00:00:00Z")

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How to turn on a flashlight the hard way…speaking of Rube Goldberg devices…

[http://news.com.com/Photos+How+to+turn+on+a+flashlight–the+hard+way/2009-1041\_3-5666394.html?part=rsstag=5666394subj=news](http://news.com.com/Photos+How+to+turn+on+a+flashlight--the+hard+way/2009-1041_3-5666394.html?part=rsstag=5666394subj=news)

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/6 "2005-07-14T00:00:00Z")

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Some amusing macros that are Rube Goldberg-esque. Eg, using Microsoft Word automation to determine the state of Scroll Lock. Funny stuff:

[http://www.mvps.org/scripting/rube/](http://www.mvps.org/scripting/rube/)

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/7 "2006-03-14T00:00:00Z")

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Here’s a great desktop set of toys with 2D physics, almost exactly like “The Incredible Machine” – but purely as a sandbox:

[http://www.souptoys.com/index.php](http://www.souptoys.com/index.php)

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/8 "2007-07-29T00:00:00Z")

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Even more Rube Goldberg madness of various types

[http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/27/japanese\_rube\_goldbe.html](http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/27/japanese_rube_goldbe.html)

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**Author:** ![Husen](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Husen](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Husen)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/9 "2007-11-02T00:00:00Z")

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OMG I lIke This GAME!!! DAMMIT so HARD To FIND, and honestly i dun even know the name of this game… i played like 13 years ago… OMG Thank yo for this INFO!!!

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**Author:** ![Mike\_Brown](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@Mike\_Brown](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Mike_Brown)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/10 "2007-12-20T00:00:00Z")

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Anyone remember the board game Mousetrap? I never learned how to play the game…just always had fun setting it up and watching it execute.

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**Author:** ![John](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@John](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/John)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/11 "2008-12-30T00:00:00Z")

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Is it just me, or did those wheels accelerate right before they hit each other when going up the ramp? CGI magic?

People do Rube Golderberg devices in Gary’s Mod for Half Life 2.

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse-cdn.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 6:40am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/rube-goldberg-software-devices/1140/12 "2025-01-07T06:40:18Z")

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