In some discussions with a moderately new Python programmer who seems to value complexity over simplicity, I may have coined a new term:

"Penis size" style of programming -- the (mistaken) belief that the
more advanced programming language features you use, the more
impressive your code will look.

I think it's a fair generalization to say that experienced programmers value simplicity over complexity, all other things being equal.

A search for "penis size programming" came up with this link, which is entertainingly apropos.

--titus

p.s. I originally used "dick size", but now that I'm a professor, I have to be decorous, right?

Legacy Comments

Posted by Mark Robinson on 2008-04-15 at 14:37.

the programming equivalent of wearing a phallocarp also surely exists
... and that is never going to be pretty

Posted by glen stark on 2008-04-25 at 10:06.

I have had similar thoughts, but I would express the trend as "the
(mistaken)) belief that the more difficult to read the code, the more
advanced the code is".    I do a lot of coding in C and C++ (and
python too of course) and some of the advanced features make your code
a lot easier to read, even if it's just a question of using an idiom
vs hand rolling some fancy schmancy looking crap.      But I think
we're thinking of the same problem, and I think both of our
definitions require work in order to be really effective.

Posted by Noah Gift on 2008-04-28 at 19:13.

I sense a similar encounter with your future son in his teenage years
and his retort will be, "But dad I learned it by watching you....." :)
I am actually going to give this a:    ++1    Implementing complexity
for the sake of complexity is one of the purest evil's mankind has
invented, and it is a disease that afflicts IT in general, not just
Software Engineering.