[kqr]

Not writing as much software will result in reduced complexity going forward.

Sure, if someone built tens of industrial kitchens every month for regular families and just in the middle of nowhere (which is what i see a lot of in software) and then asked "how can I reduce my kitchen expenses" I would suggest "how about going forward you make your kitchens smaller and don't build them at all where nobody uses them?"

[CyberDildonics]

No one asked if they "should write software they don't need".

You are answering a question that no one would ever ask and you can't answer it because you don't have any other information other than the actual question that was asked.

[kqr]

Given that my comment immediately rose to the top of the thread and then stuck there, I have some evidence that people think it's a good suggestion.

Just because you don't see how it's a good suggestion doesn't mean it's not.

[CyberDildonics]

That doesn't mean anything. If someone asks how to cook and you say 'just don't eat lol', that's not an answer and is just a self indulgent response based on nothing.

[zenkat]

Wow, people on the internet really will argue about anything.

@kqr, thank you for your insights. While it's not exactly relevant to my problem domain (self-driving cars - lots of essential complexity there!), it's still generally useful advice.

Software is expensive to write, but it's even more expensive to maintain. That's why my favorite projects are those that delete large amounts of now-useless code. Not writing it in the first place is an even better alternative.

[CyberDildonics]

Why ask a question if the answer is to just not do the thing you're trying to improve?

If someone asks "how do I get to this place" with no other context and the advice is "stay home and do nothing" that doesn't seem patronizing to you?