Get the latest tech news

Three Laws of Software Complexity

I posit that most software engineers (particularly those working on infrastructural systems) are destined to wallow in unnecessary complexity due to three fundamental laws.

This has the dual effect of increasing market share by attracting application developers; while simultaneously making it difficult for competing systems to substitute different implementations under the hood. The shape of a system is determined by the abilities, philosophies, and idiosyncrasies of dozens of developers, each working within a complex set of real and perceived incentives. Each existing system is a DoS attack on you by dozens of people you may not even know; a booby-trapped palace of ticking complexity time-bombs planted years ahead of your involvement.

Get the Android app