> On 2020-02-15 16:16, tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 02:03:02PM -0700, ghe wrote:
>>
>>> FYI, fogies, in the Jul-Aug, 1978 Bellsystem Technical Journal,
>>> announcing Unix, in the Style section of the Foreward is a list of
>>> "maxims...gained currency among the builders and users..." The first
>>> sentence of the first maxim in the list is, "Make each program do
>>> one thing well."
>>>
>>> The second sentence is "To do a new job, build afresh rather than
>>> complicate old programs by adding new 'features.'"
>>>
>>> Until recently, the *nix communities have stuck pretty well to
>>> these recommendations -- they're just descriptions of competent
>>> programming, after all. There may be some discussion over the
>>> definitions of "one thing" and "well" but there is software in
>>> our Linux that, I think, doesn't conform to anybody's understanding
>>> of these maxims.
>>
>> While I tend to those maxims, two points:
>>
>> - I usually subsume them under "complexity is your enemy"
>>
>> and then
>>
>> - all generalizations suck.
>>
>> So, to each her own, YMMV, etc.
>
> Just so. At what point does a small and natural generalization of
> "one thing" become more complex than a new thing? Simplicity is the
> friend, complexity the enemy; order the friend, entropy the enemy.
> It takes a lifetime of design to see where to draw those lines, and
> we never stop learning.
>
> [But it was nice to be reminded of a time when programming was often
> seen as a generalization of list processing.]
Complexity is a weapon. The KISS principle is a countermeasure.
Never forget that many people have a vested interest in complexity.
Empire-building politicians (corporate and otherwise) want larger
kingdoms to rule, and monopolistic corporations want nothing more
than to make systems so complicated that users can't use them
without becoming dependent on the latest app.
Simplify, simplify.
-- Thoreau
--
cgibbs@surfnaked.ca (Charlie Gibbs)