Comment by vouwfietsman
16 hours ago
> Do we want software to be more complex?
No but the complexity of software should follow from the complexity of end user features. Essential vs accidental complexity. Some problems are complex, they require complex software. Some problems are simple, so the software should be simple. In an ideal world, at least.
> However, it might make it easier? Isn't easy really important in some domains?
Indeed, this is maybe a better wording of the problem: it is easier but not simpler. Easy is never important in a domain, except perhaps adversarial domains like marketing or sales. Easy is shortsighted. Easy is not economical because easy choices are not the right choice.
> If Word startup speed was important then more engineering resources would be expended to solve that problem
No this is a common misconception about economics: things do not at all behave rationally in supply/demand situations. People want the wrong things all the time, people act irrationally all the time, business don't know what value is all the time, large problems are ignored all the time.
> Unfortunately I think Blow, et. al, only give this question a shallow examination
I am not sure about this, maybe so. Either way, so do you: it is not at all about performance, but performance is the canary in the coalmine: it is a direct translation of the essential vs accidental complexity problem.
If I can serve you a webpage in 10ms, and you serve me that same webpage in 3000ms (excluding network latency), you are obviously solving that problem in a way that is an order of magnitude more complex than what I have proven is necessary to solve the problem. Either by involving more software, more hardware instructions, more infrastructure network hops, etc. In other words: performance is an easy objective metric for the complexity that lies behind (an otherwise opaque) piece of software.
> .. [I]t is not at all about performance, but performance is the canary in the coalmine: it is a direct translation of the essential vs accidental complexity problem.
This is all nice color on my commentary, but it fails to address the point of my two parent comments: programming is an economic activity. Sometimes a putatively more complex solution is the "right" solution for someone else, because it is easier to understand and implement, or fits within an existing workflow (it is more coherent and consistent).
Yes, if the performance delta is an order of magnitude, then yes, perhaps that is a problems for such software, but then again, maybe it isn't, because economics matter. Lots of people use 10+x slower languages because for loads of technical reasons, but also economic ones.
> In other words: performance is an easy objective metric for the complexity that lies behind (an otherwise opaque) piece of software.
Then presumably so is performance per dollar? Your argument can make sense, where the cost of a redesign is low (in cost of programmer education and experience and ultimately work), and performance benefits are high (10ms faster nets us 10x more dollars). That is -- Blow, et al/you, need to show us where these, "easy", if you will, 10x gains are.
Again -- I agree performance problems are real problems, and data oriented design is one way to reason about those problems, but Blow's marketing exercise/catastrophizing (see "Preventing the Collapse of Civilization") hasn't solved any problems, and is barely an argument without an analysis of what such incremental improvements cost.