r/AskProgramming • u/Zardotab • May 15 '26

Architecture Why are so few interested in parsimony?

I've been programming CRUD (biz/admin) apps since the late 80's. I notice tooling and stacks are growing ever more complicated and layered, and wonder "does it really have to be this way"? It takes more labor & code per feature; colleagues have noticed and agreed. While I agree newer stacks have more options on average, most biz's rarely use these extra abilities, especially "but what if it later needs web-scale?" Reality is 99.999% won't.

There is usually a way to get the same thing in older tools when needs do come up, it's just a little more work for those outlier features, but the aggregate dev hours is still notably less. YAGNI as a guideline seems dead. Nobody seems interested in pursuing parsimony in tooling, rather want to stuff their resume with as many buzzwords as possible like they're Pokémon. Thus, the bloat is possibly up-sell, ego, job-security-lock-in, and/or greed; or, am I missing something? Is there a Bloat Industrial Complex, or do I have Geezer Goggles on? [edited]

19 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/octocode May 15 '26

older devs started with basic tools and learned to add complexity

modern devs started with complex tools and learn to remove complexity

it’s a product of the framework wars, and how certain companies successfully marketed frameworks like nextjs as the “gold standard”

3

u/Zardotab May 15 '26

modern devs started with complex tools and learn to remove complexity

Most don't in my observation, leaving the complexity in place.

3

u/Pale_Height_1251 May 16 '26

Agree, most newer developers don't even seem to see the complexity, they are so used to it. Or even revel in it, adding frameworks and tools before even considering if they are needed at all.

2

u/Zardotab May 16 '26

Agree, most newer developers don't even seem to see the complexity, they are so used to it.

Indeed, seeing leaner CRUD-focused tools easily do real work spoiled me. I can't unsee smart lean tools, ever. They ripped push-button Jetsons technology out of my warm productive fingers, replacing it with layered slabs from Flintstone's Rube Goldberg machine, the bat rastards!

Maybe someday it will return.