Andy Hunt on how hard it is

Andy Hunt gave, not all unexpectedly, a very interesting and thoughtful presentation. One of the most interesting issues are of course complexity. How hard is it? Well, one thing might not be hard, but many things are. And complexity build exponentially. And therefore it's important to know when to add complexity, or features, or documentation. Or what ever you want to call it.

Is it difficult to write English? Well, I can use a dictionary and translate word after word and each and every word is correctly translated. But the sentence will not be correct. It is often like that with features: it is easy to translate them into code, but when we add more than one feature, they have to work together. So, what do you do when you learn a new language? well, you probably don't start with the most complex sentences, you start small. You start simple. Try it and see if it works.

I can't help thinking about Robert, in the Swedish classic the Emigrants. He wanted to learn English and got a book. He saw the spelling and the phonetics. Guessed which he would use when talking and guessed wrongly. He spent all that time learning all that. For nothing.

Thanks, Valtech, and thanks Mr Hunt, for a wonderful evening and many thoughts to bring home to the guys.