4 ms·

> engineers like complexity. Admit it: as much as we complain about other people’s complexity, we love our own No. Speak for yourself. I am happiest when my so

> engineers like complexity. Admit it: as much as we complain about other people’s complexity, we love our own No. Speak for yourself. I am happiest when my solution to a problem is simplest. I am least happy when a solution requires introducing new infrastructure or major new ideas.

commandlinefan 4y ago
I feel the same way, but we both have to accept that we're tilting at windmills. Complexity can't be measured, so there's no way to demonstrate, much less prove, that the time you spent reducing complexity was time well spent. You can demonstrate a run time or memory performance improvement. You can demonstrate a new feature. Unless you can reduce complexity in zero time and do so without introducing any unintentional side effects/bugs, you're just hurting yourself when you try.
a_e_k 4y ago
I came here to say this. I have no idea who first said it, but one of my favorite sayings is: "Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands." I strongly believe that this applies to computers as well. I love it when a system neatly solves its requirements in a way that looks effortless. When an algorithm looks like it just barely works for all the potential edge cases without any special handling because those edge cases just miraculously happen to work out as they fall through the happy path just like any other case. That's when a solution "feels" right. If I can present my solution/code/explanation to a junior engineer, a C.S. student, or even a non-technical person and they get it, then that's when I feel like I've really done my job. It's music to my ears if I can make a problem look so easy that someone asks "Is that it all it takes?" (until they've tried to solve it on their own :-)

4 ms·

> engineers like complexity. Admit it: as much as we complain about other people’s complexity, we love our own No. Speak for yourself. I am happiest when my so

by henning 4y ago

commandlinefan 4y ago
I feel the same way, but we both have to accept that we're tilting at windmills. Complexity can't be measured, so there's no way to demonstrate, much less prove, that the time you spent reducing complexity was time well spent. You can demonstrate a run time or memory performance improvement. You can demonstrate a new feature. Unless you can reduce complexity in zero time and do so without introducing any unintentional side effects/bugs, you're just hurting yourself when you try.
a_e_k 4y ago
I came here to say this. I have no idea who first said it, but one of my favorite sayings is: "Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands." I strongly believe that this applies to computers as well. I love it when a system neatly solves its requirements in a way that looks effortless. When an algorithm looks like it just barely works for all the potential edge cases without any special handling because those edge cases just miraculously happen to work out as they fall through the happy path just like any other case. That's when a solution "feels" right. If I can present my solution/code/explanation to a junior engineer, a C.S. student, or even a non-technical person and they get it, then that's when I feel like I've really done my job. It's music to my ears if I can make a problem look so easy that someone asks "Is that it all it takes?" (until they've tried to solve it on their own :-)