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I think you’re looking for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule > Any sufficien

I think you’re looking for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule > Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.

quink 3y ago
Half that quote and half Henry Spencer's "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."
- rektide 3y ago
  This is an excellent additional contribution which I did not think of. Thank you all. Both feel real here.
lowq 3y ago
That's a good one. I've been trying to find a source for: "If you try to write your own TCP, you'll end up with TCP, but slow." Cannot for the life of me figure out where I read this.
btown 3y ago
My favorite iteration on this, linked there, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski's_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski's_Law : > Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can. And my own take: > Every program attempts to expand until it can (a) interpret half of Common Lisp; (b) read and write mail; AND (c) implement a nontrivial subset of Quickbooks Online, including double-entry accounting. Those programs which cannot so expand are eventually forced to thus expand by the mythical force known as the Stakeholder. One must embrace the inevitability of the "rule.trigger_logic" column, of the "how do we make this work like gmail" question, and of the dreaded interplay between "balance due" and "transaction/account adjustments." Only then can one find inner peace.
- FridgeSeal 3y ago
  I feel like this should be increased to include “read and generate pdf’s”. I’ve worked at a concerning number of places now where needing to do waaaay too much with PDF’s has inevitably become a core part of the product.
  - btown 3y ago
    Ah yes! Thankfully on the writing side, headless browsers make this a lot less painful!
astrange 3y ago
Implementing half of Common Lisp is better than all of it, though, because of the rule of least power. The advantage of state machines is that you know it doesn't do anything except for what you put in the state transitions.

quink 3y ago

Half that quote and half Henry Spencer's "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."

rektide 3y ago
This is an excellent additional contribution which I did not think of. Thank you all. Both feel real here.

lowq 3y ago

That's a good one. I've been trying to find a source for: "If you try to write your own TCP, you'll end up with TCP, but slow." Cannot for the life of me figure out where I read this.

btown 3y ago

My favorite iteration on this, linked there, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski's_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski#Zawinski's_Law : > Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can. And my own take: > Every program attempts to expand until it can (a) interpret half of Common Lisp; (b) read and write mail; AND (c) implement a nontrivial subset of Quickbooks Online, including double-entry accounting. Those programs which cannot so expand are eventually forced to thus expand by the mythical force known as the Stakeholder. One must embrace the inevitability of the "rule.trigger_logic" column, of the "how do we make this work like gmail" question, and of the dreaded interplay between "balance due" and "transaction/account adjustments." Only then can one find inner peace.

FridgeSeal 3y ago
I feel like this should be increased to include “read and generate pdf’s”. I’ve worked at a concerning number of places now where needing to do waaaay too much with PDF’s has inevitably become a core part of the product.
- btown 3y ago
  Ah yes! Thankfully on the writing side, headless browsers make this a lot less painful!

astrange 3y ago

Implementing half of Common Lisp is better than all of it, though, because of the rule of least power. The advantage of state machines is that you know it doesn't do anything except for what you put in the state transitions.