| Essay 26 | Sniff Out Bad Complexity |
Bad complexity is complexity that just doesn’t have to be there.
That’s not always easy to spot. Sometimes even the pieces we think have to be there really don’t. This happened even to Thomas Jefferson.
In 1776, Jefferson sat on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. The committee gave him the privilege of writing the first draft. When the draft was completed, he sent it to his friend, Benjamin Franklin, for review. Franklin returned the draft with much of Jefferson’s clever language erased.
Jefferson was none too happy, but Franklin tried to convince his friend why this was for the better. Franklin told him this story:
When I was a journeyman printer, one of my companions, an apprentice ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access