Bitcoin's system without the help of developers!!!!

[Hatchy]

    Recently,  I read about so many problems developers encounters trying to balance the stability of Bitcoin network. being a developer is not easy as it requires technical expertise and collaboration among developers from all ove the world. 
      some major technical challenges that Bitcoin developers face when implementing new upgrades includes the fact that they ensure compatibility with existing hardware and software. This whole process is tiresome as it involves extensive testing and collaboration among developers.
     Bitcoin developers plays a major role in the maintenance of Bitcoin protocol and so we should all appreciate them for their hard works to ensure Bitcoin's stability.
       Also, because of Bitcoin decentralized system, it can still function with out direct involvement of any third party . so my question here is without Bitcoin developers, can Bitcoin system still function well?  if yes, I will be waiting for your replys and reasons. Thanks.

[un_rank]

so my question here is without Bitcoin developers, can Bitcoin system still function well?

Much of the bitcoin mechanics is encoded into the protocol and would function without any action, this means we would be able to send and receive bitcoins, generate private keys and mine without developers. That means it is a Yes, from my perspective, Bitcoin can function without developers, hopefully there is no vulnerability to be discovered.

There would be stagnancy however, with not improvement proposal getting implemented or new commits being voted into the network. Changes like SegWit, vBytes, Tap root... would not be a part of the network.
But there should be off chain advancements.

- Jay -

[digaran]

To know if it can function without any developing, of course it can, but just imagine if the world had left developing internet protocols 20 years ago, we'd be using dial up connections if they didn't keep improving the network. I can't find any better example than this.

[odolvlobo]

The last time developers had to intervene was in 2013, when an upgrade of the node software cause a fork in the block chain.

[darkv0rt3x]

It will be the same as if we were running the very first version of Bitcoin Core, for instance. It would probably work but without all the innovations implemented so far! Probably there would haven't been the incentive to develop better, faster and more efficient miners either and difficulty wouldn't probably be adjusted so often (or if it was, was because the increasing number of miners coming to the network).
What would happen to the prive of bitcoin, probably it wouldn't climb as it climbed over these 14ish years. Maybe it still increased but not like it did! There are many IF's if we start considering more and more aspects of the entire network/protocol and everything else involved!

[Davidvictorson]

so my question here is without Bitcoin developers, can Bitcoin system still function well?  if yes, I will be waiting for your replys and reasons.

Although it is true that the bitcoin system may run without the direct involvement of bitcoin developers, this cannot continue for an extended period of time. This is a vague example but consider the apps on your smart devices. Yes, they can run independently, but you will eventually receive a notification telling you to update to the most recent version so that your apps will function properly, because the update app have the most recent security patch, are already modified to meet the users' constantly changing needs and demands, and are compatible with other software or devices.
Be aware that even if you don't update the app, it will still function, but not as effectively and efficiently as it is supposed to. This is what will happen if the bitcoin system is allowed to function without skilled developers: the system will be prone to security problems, user needs won't be satisfied, bugs would appear everywhere, etc., and it will quickly become outdated.

[Pmalek]

You can drive a car with flat tires, but it doesn't drive like one with optimum tire pressure.
 
All software go through changes to make it better, safer, faster, better-optimized for different devices and operating systems, etc. A bug doesn't fix itself. It requires manual testing and changing the code. The same is true for minor or major security vulnerabilities. The developers don't always have to work on bettering the code, the monitoring of the already existing one is equally important to ensure it still runs as expected. Not to mention how essential the devs are in introducing new protocol features and adding support for new systems, OSs, etc.

[pooya87]

some major technical challenges that Bitcoin developers face when implementing new upgrades includes the fact that they ensure compatibility with existing hardware and software.

The hardware doesn't change that much and when it  does, it is backward compatible meaning a code that ran well on a hardware that existed in 2008 will run successfully on a hardware that exists in 2023. In fact there are very specific and rare cases where you'd have to test the code on different hardware to make sure it runs correctly, cases like handling endianness, using CPU intrinsic, etc. which again rarely need intervention. In fact if you check the bitcoin core code involving these things (eg. implementation of SHA256) you can see that the code doesn't really change with each release.

[karmamiu]

In my opinion it will still function, it's not like they are changing the code from the ground up constantly and they didn't have that much time to do that since it still requires manual testing. If we talk about developing the existing code then there's a possibility that they will invest their time doing that. They already have existing and running codes, all they need to do is to improve the overall system without touching and fully changing the main base. Their main concern is whether what they have updated is running smoothly once applied or not.

[Reid]

I had the same question when I started learning about SegWit before. Thankfully, good members of the forum answered me in a way that is easy to understand.
And then I imagined what if I am still using Windows XP today or lower. That must've suck.
That's how Bitcoin will be without this new incoming upgrades. Solutions from the incoming problems. Following the developments per era and finding new way to ease the transactions.

[Sha256explorer]

There is a big difference between protocol and implementation.
 Bitcoin is a protocol.  Then there is a software that implements it and has established itself as the majority, which is the Bitcoin core, and various other similar software.
 The protocol changes.  It has changed to allow for the Lightning Network, for example, and for many other needs.
 It may be necessary to change the protocol With the real advent of quantum computers.
 All of these protocol changes must also be implemented programmatically and Here we need the Developers.
 In addition to the correction of bugs, which are gradually discovered.

[Zoomic]

      some major technical challenges that Bitcoin developers face when implementing new upgrades includes the fact that they ensure compatibility with existing hardware and software. This whole process is tiresome as it involves extensive testing and collaboration among developers.

It is not as tiresome as you think it is. If you are a developer working with a team of developers who adopted certain standards of coding and making updates, you will understand that it is not difficult. The only thing that is needed is an agreement (consensus) and the implementation is done.
It will only involve testing and retesting for compatibility if you are deviating from the already established protocol (hard fork) and bitcoin does not such such situation often.

    so my question here is without Bitcoin developers, can Bitcoin system still function well?  if yes, I will be waiting for your replys and reasons. Thanks.

Yes, it will function very well. Infact, I have worked in such a situation that after making some updates in a e-commerce app, the majority of the users wanted the former version of the app. I and my team members had no choice than to reverse to the former.
Not all upgrades are necessary and for bitcoin it is just for the purpose of the security of the system and scalability of bitcoin that developers keep working on the bitcoin code.