#KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID HOW TO#
#KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID SOFTWARE#

#KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID SOFTWARE#

If the application you’re building will never change, stop reading this article immediately! Actually, don’t read anything about good principles in software development, it’s useless for you. Why being a software developer can be hard? One word: change. Why simplicity should be considered as a God who will save us all?.Why is it important for a software developer to put his nose in some boring dictionary?.Now that we really know what complexity (and, by extension, simplicity) means, you might wonder: Too many interconnected part in the system.To summarize, here are the two sins of complexity: Even if you can understand every single algorithm in your system (they’re easy for you), the system itself stays complex. As a result, it’s hard for you, but it’s also simple.Īnother example: if you have a codebase with 18237 classes all coupled to each other, you have a complex system: there are too many elements (the classes) entwined with each others. But your addition is not a system with too many parts.

#KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID HOW TO#

Let’s say that you have to do an addition in binary, and you have no idea how to do it: it’s not easy for you. Now, what’s the difference with easy? Let’s open the dictionary again:Īchieved without great effort presenting few difficulties. I can feel your adrenaline going through your entire body, your neurons doing the dance of understanding, and your whole soul projecting the light of knowledge in the universe. Let’s look at a synonym of complex, complicated:Ĭonsisting of many interconnecting parts or elements intricate. If you’re still not convinced, that’s great: it’s really important to have a critical mind. It’s a system which has not too many different elements connected to each other. A simple system is not a system with one and only one element necessarily. We could also try to define “simple” by looking at the definition of its contrary, complex:Ĭonsisting of many different and connected parts. Plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature, or design without much decoration or ornamentation.Ĭomposed of a single element not compound.Įasy enough: if your system has only a few parts, you have a simple system. What the dictionary has to say about simple? There are important difference between the concepts of easy and simple we need to understand first. Why we shouldn’t try to outsmart everyone with our code?.What means simplicity for an architecture?.Can we avoid the complexity created by the business itself?.What’s the difference between simple and easy?.More precisely, we’ll try to answer these questions: We’ll go from the business domain itself, through the nitty-gritty (the implementation), to end up in the complexity of software architecture. I won’t write about all the different ways complexity can creep in your codebase but, instead, I’ll try to give you a quick overview of the different masks complexity can wear, with many examples. You guessed it: we’ll dive into simplicity (and complexity) in this article. The problem: it’s really hard to achieve. Simplicity is one of the driving idea we should keep in mind at all time when designing a system. They often fail to explain what is simplicity, why simplicity is important, and how to achieve it. When I search about the KISS principle on The Internet, I stumble across many websites defining it in a couple of lines: simplicity is important, let’s be simple, the end. , updated Twitter #Fundamentals #PHP #Complexity A Detailed Explanation of The KISS Principle in Software

Keep it simple stupid