[fsloth]

Code is written for humans. I don't think there is any proven metric for elegance.

When I was a junior dev I made a god awful complex thingamajic for basically calling a dozens of functions with different input parameters. Our lead just said "o god, not like this just call the functions " and he was correct.

Unless you are in a senior/junior position trying to prove your colleague wrong will likely result of him thinking you are arrogant and will make efforts to improve things in years to come difficult.

Communication usually fails. If you say "your code is too complex" despite your best efforts to be polite he might hear "I am an arrogant twat and just want to put you down for the fun of it".

Some times best people lead by example. If you can write your stuff elegantly and show it to him he may appreciate the more simple approach. Or not.

Unless it's an obvious antipattern like coupling of code and data we are, up to a point, discussing aesthetics. Experienced programmers often grow to appreciate simplicity if only of the categories of bugs code eliminates by just being simple. But this takes time.

[stefs]

> I don't think there is any proven metric for elegance.

there is: http://www.osnews.com/images/comics/wtfm.jpg

i'm not even joking.

[fsloth]

Oh, had forgotten about that one. Actually, I think that image is posted on a wall at a floor in our office :)