At first I thought frums missed the point by opening with talk of 'reducing complexity', but then I saw the title. I think that says it all. I'm extremely new to the tech field, but my impression so far is that the most important decisions involve how to MANAGE complexity. You don't really REDUCE it.
I think that's what the original article is trying to point out. VB or C++ or Dreamweaver (or whatever) aren't broken because they utilize abstraction. It's just that programmers need to keep in mind that sometimes abstraction can be a disadvantage. Abstraction requires that generalizations and assumptions be made about users/programmers needs. Sometimes those assumptions will be wrong.
Heck - for me the metaphor is Linux v. Widows. I think that's the big, underlying idea beneath the Linux/Windows fight (forgetting predatory business practices for the moment): Windows tries to hide its complexity under an enormous pile of bloat, making things 'easier' for the 'average' user, while Linux is sleeker but requires the user to 'keep track' of more stuff themselves. The more I learn about Linux, the more patronizing I find Windows. I can make decisions for myself, thank you.
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Apropos of transformers... you must check out getyourwaron.org go to chapter eight. This site has it all. sarcasm, robots, political outrage.
At first I thought frums missed the point by opening with talk of 'reducing complexity', but then I saw the title. I think that says it all. I'm extremely new to the tech field, but my impression so far is that the most important decisions involve how to MANAGE complexity. You don't really REDUCE it.
I think that's what the original article is trying to point out. VB or C++ or Dreamweaver (or whatever) aren't broken because they utilize abstraction. It's just that programmers need to keep in mind that sometimes abstraction can be a disadvantage. Abstraction requires that generalizations and assumptions be made about users/programmers needs. Sometimes those assumptions will be wrong.
Heck - for me the metaphor is Linux v. Widows. I think that's the big, underlying idea beneath the Linux/Windows fight (forgetting predatory business practices for the moment): Windows tries to hide its complexity under an enormous pile of bloat, making things 'easier' for the 'average' user, while Linux is sleeker but requires the user to 'keep track' of more stuff themselves. The more I learn about Linux, the more patronizing I find Windows. I can make decisions for myself, thank you.