Re:Should Ethereum be okay with enshrining more things in th...
by api on Saturday September 30, 2023 @01:52PM
(#37717950)
> It takes good engineering to solve a problem, but it takes great engineering to solve a problem without creating three others elsewhere.
Yeah that’s basically what I mean.
There’s essential complexity and incidental complexity. The first is the complexity that comes from the real world. The second is self imposed due to design choices or path dependency effects. Minimizing the latter is good engineering.
I do maintain that every once I a while someone finds a way to radically cut complexity without losing essential capability. That’s genius, and it’s rare.
I've seen this in myself and others: There's a certain rush to creating a system so complex that you can barely master it yourself.
But in a real system (one being actually used by people other than its designers, that have interests other than working on it and admiring the beautiful machinery), there is an infinite supply of complexity in the form of external constraints and internal one-way architectural decisions, and you'll be grateful for every single bit of complexity you can still chip off while keeping the system running.
It takes good engineering to solve a problem, but it takes great engineering to solve a problem without creating three others elsewhere.