This type of coding is I think best understood by the following tradeoff: they know exactly what the code must do; and the loss if it fails to do that thing is enormous; so it worth expending enormous effort to ensure it does that thing exactly.
In most user-facing software in the Internet age, the reverse is true: we do not really know what the software should do; but the penalty for a bug is not great; so, it is not worth expending enormous effort to be big free; instead it is better to expend great effort to be nimble and find out just what it is the software should be doing to begin with.
Very different environments yielding very different methodologies. I can't say one is better, just de gustibus non est disputandum.
In most user-facing software in the Internet age, the reverse is true: we do not really know what the software should do; but the penalty for a bug is not great; so, it is not worth expending enormous effort to be big free; instead it is better to expend great effort to be nimble and find out just what it is the software should be doing to begin with.
Very different environments yielding very different methodologies. I can't say one is better, just de gustibus non est disputandum.