[codeflo]

I'm a fan of Ousterhout's writing; "A philosophy of software design" clarified a lot of my thinking around complexity.

I find the "Grug Brain" stuff pretentious and dishonest. "Me not smart. Me like simple things. Me not believe in hype. Hence why me invent complex new frontend framework, and then me hype it up beyond reason."

(To be clear what I'm saying, my point is not that HTMX is overhyped -- it might be, but then so is everything. It's specifically the hypocrisy of the "we're against hypes" hype that makes me cringe.)

[resonious]

I feel the exact same about grug. I don't think people actually agree on what's simple, so it's pretentious to pretend your "simple" is the obvious one that a caveman would agree with.

[TeMPOraL]

Grug has some good points about complexity, but proceeds to take it all the way to full-blown, self-defeating anti-intellectual and anti-professional attitude. It makes sense for imaginary cavemen, but not for practitioners of a profession - people both capable and expected to learn the tools of their craft and continue learning past their first job interview.

[recursivedoubts]

ironically, i teach at a university

agree that anti-intellectualism is a danger if you take grugbrainism too far

[cryptography]

Do you think this would be beneficial for a somewhat perplexed CTO of a newly seed-funded startup? Or would it be wiser for me to concentrate on my current responsibilities and return to this book when my mind is clearer? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and under pressure, and I'm concerned that reading this book might add to the chaos. I would appreciate your input.

[LewisJEllis]

APoSD is a relatively quick high-signal read, and not really a source of additional chaos. You can get through it in a weekend or less.

It mostly gives you vocabulary and labels and explanations for things that you may already intuitively understand, and teaches you to notice small things that matter. It will probably make it easier for you to discuss and dissect some of the chaos you're already dealing with.