A useless discussion about how a working sketch can't possibly work

I don't know what the update changed. I, too, used that library for years. Just lately I discoverd the hd44780 library. I believe the hd44780 library is superior. It will auto detect the I2C address and the I2C expander to LCD wiring. Most of the functions are the same as the other liquid crystal libraries. Use the hd44780_I2Cexp class.