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About this quote

What does it mean?
The author admits that improving something may slightly reduce its readability.
In plain terms
Improving a feature can make it a bit harder to read.
What can you take from it?
Weigh improvements against readability costs.

Where it applies

  • optimizing code
  • refactoring

Putting it to work

  • keep documentation up to date
  • use clear naming conventions

Questions to consider

  • When is a small readability loss acceptable?
  • How can you restore readability after changes?

Another view

Readability loss can hinder future maintenance.

More from Larry Wall

  1. There are still some other things to do, so don't think if I didn't fix your favorite bug that your bug report is in the bit bucket. (It may be, but don't thin…

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  2. What about WRITING it first and rationalizing it afterwards? :-)

    Permalink to quote #26

  3. There are probably better ways to do that, but it would make the parser more complex. I do, occasionally, struggle feebly against complexity... :-)

    Permalink to quote #23

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