Importance of Managing Complexity
Another great quote from Code Complete:
Managing complexity is the most important technical topic in software development. In my view, it’s so important that Software’s Primary Technical Imperative has to be managing complexity … Once you understand that all other technical goals in software are secondary to managing complexity, many design considerations become straightforward.
Code Complete Second Edition - Steve McConnell (Chapter 5.2 Key Design Concepts)
It all comes back to maintainability of your codebase. This is something that I am constantly trying to get better at. Typically the majority of time spent in a web application is post initial production deployment. I would advocate that extra time up front to make those smart decisions will only mean quicker response times when bug fix and feature requests are coming in. The quicker response times are a direct result of managing complexity up front.
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