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The Einstein quote is that "something should be a simple as needed but no simpler", but how to be pin down "required" in an objective / quantifiable way? Someh
by streamofdigits 5y ago
The Einstein quote is that "something should be a simple as needed but no simpler", but how to be pin down "required" in an objective / quantifiable way?
Somehow it is more important to measure "gratuitous" complexity, redundant complexity that is not justified by present or plausible future requirements...
The problem is that the code itself does not capture requirements, so code analysis can give you absolute indicators but never an "efficiency" measure (how efficient and justified the measured complexity)
- okl 5y agoIsn't the general goal rather to avoid/eliminate overly complex cruft (that every programmer should be able to recognize) than to find the maximally simple solution to a problem?
- streamofdigits 5y agothat seems like a more tractable goal if confined to local analysis (something like lines of code in a function or file unit) but people generally try to come up also with overall complexity that seems harder