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Explain the joke

The comic humorously illustrates software development reality, where a small codebase (the red object in the bell jar) appears simple but is deeply interconnected with complex dependencies, archives, and technical systems.The setup contrasts initial perceptions of simplicity versus the messy complexity beneath.

Related memes

More pain in the same neighborhood

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A meme featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a woman holding a beige telephone, and two boys. The top panels show the man asking 'Your mom is a backend developer?', then saying 'Javascript is the best language for backend'. The middle panel shows the woman responding 'Sure it is!' with a smile. The bottom panel has the man stating 'Your foster parents are dead'.
This is the codebase