LOL, I swear it feels like the answer to every "why is this weird computer thing this way?" question I see is "because we used to do it this way on punch cards."
Wait until you find out that "coder" originally meant "someone who encodes messages into Morse". And if you start digging into the word "code", you'll find it comes from latin "codex" which is a mutation of "caudex" meaning, literally, "tree trunk".
Because back then, people would write on wooden tablets covered with wax.
So.. next time you see a kludge and think of "historical reasons", consider that "historical" goes back much farther than 20th century. :)
And, what did the word "computer" mean back in the day? Hint: they were mostly women. And, they defeated the Nazis in World War Two, with the help of Alan Turing and his crew.
Because back then, people would write on wooden tablets covered with wax.
So.. next time you see a kludge and think of "historical reasons", consider that "historical" goes back much farther than 20th century. :)