I was watching an almost complete collection of Apple keynotes since 1997 (when Steve Jobs returned to Apple) and for some reason I formulated this.
There are different kinds of “simple” in software engineering and actually in any kind of engineering.
- Simple, which was made simple without background “domain” knowledge, basically with the only reason that “it is easy to create this thing this way”, just blindly following the mantra that “every solution should be simple”.
- Simple, which is a result of a lot of work and background analysis.
The first one is worthless, the second one is genius and is a result of a very hard work. It could be very hard to distinguish between the two. The first one can be easily disguised as the second one.
This brought two quotes I recently saw to mind. They correspond perfectly to your two points:
1. “Simplicity is the outward sign and symbol of depth of thought.”
– Lin Yutang
2. “Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most.”
– Clement Mok
If you are interested in the topic of simplicity I can reccomend John Maeda’s book “The Laws of Simplicity”. It’s to be had for ten dollars or so, and is a short, and -surprise- simple read. But simple in the good way.
Oh, and you must be completely and utterly mad to be watching all those keynotes :)