Comment by myhf
7 months ago
"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system."
– John Gall (1975) Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They Fail
It's why I'm always very skeptical of new languages and frameworks. They often look great on a PowerPoint slide, but it's not clear how they'll look on something complex and long-lasting.
They usually pick up warts added for some special case, and that's a sign that there will be infinitely many more.
There's a fine line between "applying experience" and "designing a whole new system around one pet peeve". But it's a crucial distinction.
With that attitude how would the presently accepted languages/frameworks have come about?
Probably slower and with more respect for existing tech.
But hey, now we have npm, so who cares anymore? :-)
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> "designing a whole new system around one pet peeve"
BAHHAHAH! So…you mean React. If I hear the word hook as if it alone can solve complexity in web dev one more time I’ll…eh, I’ll do nothing actually. But my point still stands. React solves asynchronous event driven behavior well, but that’s all. Everything else in React projects is, well, everything else.
What about the divine watchmak - sorry - developer?
The 10x watchmaker, perhaps?
Great quote, commenting just to 'bookmark' it.
You can "favorite" comments
Great comment, replying to improve “reach”
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