> >Why?
To which Bob Vance responded,
>
>Less processing.
CPU power is cheaper than brainpower, downtime through errors, etc.
>Elegance :)
I've always regarded an elegant solution as one that is necessary
and sufficient for all criteria. Maintainability is a criterion.
A professor, in his* Tuesday class, droned on "it is obvious that XXX
is ZZZ."
A student responded, "Professor, are you sure it is obvious?"
A look of professorial alarm. "Class dismissed."
On Thursday, the class returned to find their professor still at the
board, fairly obviously unwashed and unshaven since Tuesday, perhaps
nourished only by incessant cups of coffee. With a tired, triumphant,
yet demented look, he announced: "Yes, it is obvious."
* choice of pronoun gender deliberate. This is a guy thing**, the
academic version of refusing to ask for directions.
** a female professor, however, might want to share the experience of
confusion.
>Cleverness :)
There is a poorly documented corollary of Murphy's Law that establishes
that idiots inherit the work of the clever.
Military organizations have much folklore about this. In working with
US Navy personnel, I learned the valid distinctions between idiot-proofing
and sailor-proofing. Or, as it is said, the five most dangerous things
in the Canadian Navy:
-- Ordinary Seamen saying: "I learned this in Boot Camp"
-- Petty Officers saying "Trust me, sir"
-- Sublieutenants saying "Based on my experience"
-- Lieutenants saying "I was just thinking"
-- Chiefs saying "Watch this [output traffic from male cow]"
>More documentation ~%[
>
>I love that sort of stuff --
>hmm, I guess this means that you wouldn't hire me, eh, Howard?
Well, can you phrase this as "full employment for consultants?"
In all fairness, there is a regrettable Cisco tendency to teach and
test for obscurity.
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