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Presenter: Rich Hickey

Title: Simplicity Matters

Abstract

Rich Hickey (@richhickey), the author of Clojure and designer of Datomic, is a software developer with over 20 years of experience in various domains. Rich has worked on scheduling systems, broadcast automation, audio analysis and fingerprinting, database design, yield management, exit poll systems, and machine listening, in a variety of languages.

Summary

TODO

Memorable Quotes

  • "Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability." - Dijsktra
  • "Programmers know the benefits of everything and the tradeoffs of nothing"
  • "You're complecting things right now"
  • "I have a hairball now that does it"

Notes

@jamesgary's notes

  • Simplicity

    • Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability - Dijkstra

    • Simple = one fold/braid (sim -plex)
    • Easy = lie near (easy < aise < adjacens)
    • One fold/braid
      • One role, task, concept, dimension
    • But not one instance, or one operation
    • About lack of interleaving, not cardinality
    • Simple is objective

  • Easy

    • Near, at hand,
      • on our hd, in our tool set, ide, apt get, gem install...
      • Near to our understanding/skill set (familiar)
      • Near our capabilities
    • Easy is relative

  • Limits

    • We can only hope to make reliable those things we can understand
    • We can only consider a few things (+- 7) at a time
    • Intertwined things must be considered together
    • Complexity undermines understanding

  • Change

    • Elephant in the room during standup: The software we've already written
    • We make the elephant do more, do it differently, do it better
    • Changes to software require analysis and decisinos
    • Your ability to reason about your program is critical
      • More than tests, types, tools, process
    • That elephant will dominate what you do

  • Simplicity = Opportunity

    • Architectural Agility wins (beats all other kinds of agility)
      • else - push the elephant
    • Good design is about pulling things apart
    • Repurpose, substitute, move, combine, extend

  • LISP programmers know the benefits of everything and the cost of nothing

  • Programmers know the benefits of everything and the tradeoffs of nothing

  • Imagine if the Foo Fighters just wanted easy, didn't want to learn instruments

    • Became the Kazoo Fighters, which would be lousy and no one would want to be in a band that consistently chooses the easy thing

  • Programmers vs Programs

    • We focus on ourselves
      • programmer convenience
      • programmer replaceability
    • Rather than the programs
      • Software quality, correctness
      • Maintenance, change
    • gem install hairball # incredibly easy, good for the moment

  • Complect

    • "To interleave, entwine, braid"
    • Bad!
    • Complecting things is the source of complexity

  • Making Things Easy

    • Bring to hand by installing
      • getting approved for use
    • Become familiar by learning, trying
    • If you want everything familiar, you'll never learn anything
    • But mental capability? Can you get smarter?
      • Not going to move very far
    • Make challenges easy by simplifying them

  • We can be creating the exact same programs out of significantly simpler components

  • What's in your Toolkit?

    • Complexity / Simplictity
    • State, Objects / Values
    • Methods / Functions, Namespaces
    • variables / managed refs
    • Inheritance, switch, matching / polymorhpism a la carte
    • syntax / data
    • imperitave loops, fold (:each gets Rubyists out of loop) / set functions
    • actors / queues
    • ORM / Declarative data manipulation
    • Conditionals / Rules
    • Inconsistency / consistency

  • "Simplicity -- the art of maximing the amount of work not done -- is essential" = WRONG

    • Simplicity is not about you

  • Simplicity is not an objective in art, but one achieves simplicity despite one's self by entering into ...... bluh

  • Lists and Order (are they so complex?)

    • A sequence of things
    • Does order matter?
    • A set calls out that order doesn't matter (and no dupes)
    • Why care about order?
      • Complects each thing with the next
      • Infect usage points
      • Inhibits change

  • Order in the Wild

    • Complex / Simple
    • Positional args / Named args or map
    • Syntax / Data
    • Product types / associateive records
    • Imperitave programs / declarative programs
    • Prolog / datalog
    • call chains / queues
    • xml / json, clojure literals

  • Use Maps (aka hashes)

    • first class associative data structures
    • idomatic support
    • Generic manipulation
    • Use 'em

  • Information is simple

    • Don't ruin it
    • By hiding it behind a micro-language
      • i.e. a class with info-specific methods
      • thwarts generic data composition
      • ties logic to representaiton du jour
    • Represent data as data

  • Encapsulation

    • Is for implemntation details
    • Info doesn't have implementaion
      • Unless you added it - why?
    • Information will have representation
      • have to pick one

  • Wrapping Info

    • The information class, then a service, etc

  • Can you move it?

    • Litmus test - can you move your subsystem?

  • subsystems must have

    • well defined boundaries
    • Abstracted operation interface (verbs)
    • General error handling
    • take and return data
      • Not IPersonInfo - ooops!
    • Again, maps (hashes)

  • Simplicity will always be a Choice

    • Requires vigilance, sensibilities and care
    • Equating simplicity with ease and familiarity is wrong
      • Develop sensibilities around entanglement
      • Take a moment ot have that conversation
    • Your 'reliability' tools (testing, etc) don't care if program is simple or not
    • Chose simple construct

  • Simplicity Matters

    • Complexity inhibits understanding
      • and therefore robustness
    • Simplicity enablse change
      • It is the primary source of true agaility
    • Simplicity = Opportunity
    • Do!
    • Don't drag an elephant around
    • Go make simple things

@danbernier's notes

Title: Simplicity Matters

"Simplicity is a prerequisite for reliability." - Dijkstra

simple: sim-plex, one fold or braid (antonym: com-plex, many) easy: nearby, adjacent

simple != easy

Simple: one role, task, concept, dimension... But not one instance, or operation. It's about a lack of interleaving, not cardinality.

Simplicity is objective.

Easy: on our hard drive, in our tool set/IDE, apt get, gem install... Familiar: close to our understanding.

Or, near our capabilities. We don't like to admit things are complex, but there are limits to the complexity we can handle.

Easy is relative: it's based on where you are now, what you know now.

We humans have limits:

  • we need to understand, to make reliable
  • we can only consider a few things at a time
  • intertwined things must be considered together
  • complexity undermines understanding

"Change really is the operative word."

"The software we've already written is gonna dominate our work." We need to make it do more, do it differently, do it better. That requires analysis, & decisions. You need to Reason about your program

  • more than tests, types, tools, process...if you want your software to change, then you need to understand it.

Simplicity = Opportunity. The most effective agility is architectural.

Design is about pulling things apart. "We think of Design as making grand plans for how everything is gonna go. But most of what a designer does is to take things apart."

THEN: repurpose, substitute, move, combine, extend: they're separated, so they're easier to understand. "Simplicity buys us easiness, ease, agility."

"Lisp programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing." -Perlis

That becomes: Programmers know the benefits of everything and the tradeoffs of nothing. "We really focus on ourselves, but we should focus on our software. What if the Foo Fighters became the Kazoo Fighters?"

Programmer convenience =~ Programmer replaceability

Instead, focus on the programs: quality, correctness; maintenance, change. What's good for the program? @gem install hairball@ is easy, but is it good for the program?

A hairball: intertwined strands. Complect: to interleave, entwine, braid. Complecting causes complexity

Make things easy! Install things, get them approved for use. Learn things, read books. "If you want everything to be familiar, you'll never learn anything new." But you can't make your brain any better at dealing with its limits, so: limit its complexity. Simplify it.

Complexity: Simplicity: state, objects values methods functions, namespaces variables managed references inheritance, switch, matching polymorphism a la carte syntax data imperative loops, fold set functions actors queues ORM declarative data manipulation conditionals rules inconsistency consistency

Agile: "Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work NOT done - is essential." This is wrong, this is about ease, this is focused on you. "Absolutely terrible advice."

The team w/ real simplicity will be being effective when you're dealing w/ the elephant in the room, your old code.

Simplicity is not an objective (TODO damn, missed the quote...something about pulling thigs apart into their natural order?)

Lists and Order

Why should we care about order? Because it complects each item with the next one. Sure, you don't use position in lists, but you DO use positional arguments to functions. It happens, it's there. (Even clojure has it.) Syntax is order. Imperative programs are order. Call chains!

Complex Simple positional args named args or map syntax data product types associative records imperative programs declarative programs prolog datalog call chains queues xml json, clojure literals

How can we avoid order? Use maps! (Hashes!) Generic access, over the keys.

Information IS Simple - don't ruin it!

90% of the time, classes are a waste, & you'd be better off w/ a map (hash):

  • thwarts generic data composition
  • ties you to an implementation

But what about encapsulation? That's for implementation details - info doesn't have implementation. It WILL have representation - you have to pick one.

Say you create an interface, or a class. Can you move it? Can you move your subsystems? Move it out-of-proc, to a different language, or thread?

A subsystem should take & receive data - all our services do that (JSON, restful, etc) - so why do we stop doing that inside our programs? We return types, not data. Just use hashes.

Simplicity is a Choice

Requires effort, but will make the rest of the work easier

Develop sensibilities around entaglement. Ask yourself: did we complect anything today?

Choose simple constructs.

Simplicity matters: complexity inhibits understanding, and therefore robustness.

Simplicity enables change - the primary source of true agility. It's opportunity.

"Go make simple things."

From @benjaminoakes

  • Conflated words:
    • Sim=plex: "one fold/braid"
    • Easy: "lie near"
  • Easy
    • Near, at hand (part of your toolkit, etc)
    • Close to your understanding/familiar
    • Near our capabilities; about our mental work
    • How much complexity can we take on?
    • What's easy to you might not be easy for someone else
  • Limits
    • 7 +/- 2 (from psychology)
    • Intertwined things (coupled?) make change more difficult
  • Change
    • ...is the operative word
    • Size/complexity of software is the limit
    • Being able to reason, etc. is critical
  • Simplicity
    • Process isn't important; architectural agility is
    • Is design demonized?
      • "Grand plans" isn't design
      • Taking things apart is the goal
      • Goal: simple compontents
  • The "Kazoo" Fighers
    • Do you want to be in a band that consistently chooses the easiest thing?
  • Homogenaeity
    • You're more replacable if there's homogenaeity
    • Too much focus on ourselves rather than our programs
  • "Complect"
    • Taking more than one thing and tying it together in a knot
  • Easy isn't bad
    • You can become familiar
    • Learning new things is good
    • Getting smarter is hard
    • Easy is best in all three senses
  • Simpler components
    • Simpler languages, techniques, approaches
    • Same programs!
    • What are some options? (see slides if posted; there's a table)
    • Simplicity is hard work, but there's a huge payoff.
    • Constatin Brancusi quote
  • Order is complex
    • "The order problem"
    • Makes every use more complex
    • Positional arguments vs named arguments (or a hashmap)
    • This is "syntax vs data"!
    • See table
    • Leverage hashes in your language; use them often
  • Information is simple
    • Classes can make things more complex
    • Makes generic manipulation harder
    • Information doesn't have implementation
    • Information has representation
  • A test: can you move it?
    • Morphing from components to systems of systems...
    • Subsytems must have:
      • Well-defined boundaris
      • Abstract verbs
      • Take and return data
  • Simplicity requires vigilance
    • Be aware of entanglement and how to be sensitive about it
    • Tools don't do this (e.g., tests)

Discussion

  • Isn't simplicity relative? What's your take on what he meant in a less abstract situation? - benjaminoakes

External Links