I like simple things. Excessive complexity tends to annoy me. When I first started working with computers, I thought that mainframes were overly complicated, so I was pleased to discover minicomputers, where I could really understand exactly what was going on. Embedded software was a natural progression, as, again, I could grasp the entire functionality of the software. But that began to change, as commercial real time operating systems and other software IP became more common. Everything became more complex and invisible.

I am not saying that this situation is necessarily a problem or that all complexity is intrinsically bad. It is just that sometimes I yearn for the simple life. It might be suggested that perhaps the world of software is not the best place for me, but I will ignore those murmurings and consider where simplicity might still be appropriate … (more…)