This is terrible. The whole reason they introduced this is because IBOutlets would get silently disconnected and then in the field a user would complain that a feature stopped working.
Crash early, crash often. Find the bugs and bad assumptions.
> without taking the time to understand why they do things, the way they do.
Oh I am aware. They do it because
A) they don’t have a mental model of correct execution. Events just happen to them with a feeling of powerlessness. So rather than trying to form one they just litter the code with cases things that might happen
> As I've gotten older, the sharp edges have been sanded off.
B) they have grown in bad organizations with bad incentives that penalize the appearance of making mistakes. So they learn to hide them.
For example there might be an initiative that rewards removing crashes in favor of silent error.
Crash early, crash often. Find the bugs and bad assumptions.