Erik Naggum  <erik@naggum.net> wrote:
+---------------
|   I have found that the more I understand a problem, the fewer lines of
|   code I end up with.  Just getting something to work usually means writing
|   reams of code fast, like a Stephen King novel, but making it maintainable
|   and high-quality code that really expresses the ideas well, is like
|   writing poetry.  Art is taking away.
+---------------

Amen.

In EWD648 "``Why is Software So Expensive'': An Explanation to
the Hardware Designer" [1982 or earlier, scanned copy only at
<URL:http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd06xx/EWD648.PDF>],
Dijkstra said:

	To this very day we have organizations that measure "programmer
	productivity" by the "number of lines of code produced per month".
	This number can, indeed, be counted, but they are booking it on
	the wrong side of the ledger, for we should talk about "the number
	of lines of code spent".

But the earliest version of this sentiment I know of is probably
due to Antoine de Saint-Exupery [1900-1944], oft quoted as saying:

	Perfection is attained, not when there is no longer anything
	to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.


-Rob

p.s. Other variations:

	"The best part of a design is the part that isn't there."
		-- Gordon Bell

	"Simplicity, then add lightness"
		-- William B. Stout
		   (Stout Metal Airplane Company, later bought by Ford Motor)

-----
Rob Warnock, 31-2-510		rpw3@sgi.com
SGI Network Engineering		http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.		Phone: 650-933-1673
Mountain View, CA  94043	PP-ASEL-IA