Software Complexity Debate

Counterpoint: https://dpc.pw/posts/you-can-t-just-avoid-complexity/

Complexity doesn't go away, it just moves somewhere else.

Complexity is costly and generally more brittle

Good example of how complexity often engenders complexity. The wrong abstraction might create 100x more work to support it.

because it's an overengineered hype that does not reduce complexity, only shovels it around, turning simple problems into obscure ones

At some point huge complexity are introduced to simplify a problem and solve for a gap or feature. Don't look at this as a burden, look it as a use case you don't require currently and this may not be the right tool for you to use.

Complexity is bad when you are designing and maintaining a system. The ecosystem of humanity's software development isn't something you are designing or maintaining, here complexity is good because it provides abundance and diversity of tools and solutions. Don't need it? Don't use it. But stop advocating either as the right or good way for everyone.

"the solution to runaway complexity is more complexity"okay, more nuanced than that. but from the perspective of someone who spends far more time reading code (and patching it or packaging it) than writing it, i worry about that mindset.

I don't buy it. You're just exchanging one type of complexity for another.Frankly I think this is rooted in a sense of nostalgia rather than practical concern. It's clear me blow enjoys being close to the metal. He wants to be a true hacker who can drill down to each and gate.But the reality of systems is that they grow more complicated. There is a popular TED talk that claims there is no one on earth who understands how a computer mouse is manufactured. There are just too m

The cost of complexity is exponential -Rob Pike