[arethuza]

"Do programmers really find so much fun in creating accidental complexity?"

I certainly did for a number of years - I just had the luck that the cool things I happened to pick on in the early/mid 1990s turned out to be quite important (Web '92, Java '94).

Now my views have flipped almost completely the other way - technology as a means of delivering value.

Edit: Other cool technology that I loved like Common Lisp & CLOS, NeWS and PostScript turned out to be less useful...

[moritzwarhier]

I see what you mean, sometimes "accidental complexity" can also be a form of getting to know a technology really well and that can be useful and still fun. Kudos for that :)

[arethuza]

Oh yes I loved building stuff with all these technologies mostly for my own entertainment - fortunately I was in academia so could indulge myself. ;-)