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by ellius 2405 days ago
Simple is easier than complex the same way that exercise is easier than chronic obesity. If you have the discipline to do the obvious that's great, but it takes willpower to create or do the simple thing. Oftentimes it's easier or more expedient to do the lazier easy thing in the moment, but you pay for it down the road. For example: I notice I'm doing the same calculation twice on the front and back end of my application. The "simple" thing to do would typically be to extract that logic to one place so that you don't end up having to modify it in two/five/twelve places down the road. But I'm already halfway through writing it, and the simplification will involve some non-trivial refactoring, so I take the easy route and write the same logic twice. It's easy for now, but will be complex when I have to change it down the road.