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Posted by Chung Leong on 07/26/06 05:01
Shelly wrote:
> This is the opposite (but similar) to what I called the "Name That Tune"
> syndrome in the early days of C programming. Whiz kids would compete to see
> how few lines they could use to write a For loop, for example. Often, when
> for readability and debugging the code should have been 10 lines, it was
> written as one line by some smartass, show-off programmer.
One has to make a distinction between syntactical complexity and
analystical complexity. The human brain is very good at decoding
syntax. It's part of our innate capability to process language. Whereas
we're much more limited when it comes to solving analystical problems.
If you look at entries into the the Obfuscated C contest, for example,
you'll always find that their difficulty arises from twisted
logics--not strange syntax.
I am, of course, not arguing for hard to read code. I am just saying
that adding unnecessary structural complexity to a program is a far
greater sin. You can always clean up ugly code. You can't really fix an
overly complicated framework because your brain cannot fully understand
it.
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