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The hickey definition is from the POV of the engineer - the creation of software with simplicity. Code that is simple, doesn't necessarily result in a piece of
by chii 1y ago
The hickey definition is from the POV of the engineer - the creation of software with simplicity. Code that is simple, doesn't necessarily result in a piece of software that is simple for the end-user.
The tellman's version is for the end user - simplicity of use, by the user, with their existing expectation, culture and pre-knowledge. It's basically describing skeuomorphism in software (but not limited to just UI). It might be enormously complicated to create for the engineer, while it remains simple for the end-user.
- prospero 1y agoShow me a software developer who isn’t an end user for someone else’s code.
- wtetzner 1y agoThis feels like it missed the point. Hickey's approach is relevant in how the software is constructed, and Tellman's is relevant to the user experience. Both approaches are useful for a single application.
- prospero 1y agoMy point is that the creator/user dichotomy exists at every level of software.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- zem 1y agoif you think of the "end user" as the next person to work with the code, tellman's version is the ideal of encapsulation. some problem might be intrinsically hard to solve in terms of expressing it in code, but the end product could still be simple to work with given a properly encapsulated design
- gsf_emergency 1y agoSimplicity is a fitness between software and beauty Pros: 1) hints that software is also about objective truth 2) Cons: