Rob Pike • 12/6/2023

Simplicity

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This article is a transcript of a 2009 internal Google talk by Rob Pike. He argues that simplicity is superior to complexity in software design, using Google's minimalist homepage as a prime example. He then contrasts this with the overwhelming complexity of Google's internal Web Server (GWS) configuration, illustrating how organic growth leads to complexity. Pike discusses how complexity is multiplicative and endemic in large systems, sharing an anecdote about negative productivity for deleting code to highlight how organizations often fail to reward simplicity.

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Simplicity

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