[ZDP] on zope complexity (Re: Zope hierarchy)

[Simon Michael]

Martijn Faassen <faassen@vet.uu.nl> writes:
> Tom Deprez wrote:
> > Yes, I know internal Zope is complex. Especially if you've never seen
> > Python. 
> 
> Even if you're seen Python it's complex, I can assure you.

I used to worry that zope has grown far from its simple & elegant
beginnings, and over-complexity leads to breakage. But something in
Larry Wall's "Open Sources"* piece clarified this for me:

  We all have to deal with reality one way or another. So we
  simplify. Often we oversimplify. Our ancestors oversimplified. They
  fooled themselves into thinking that God only created circles and
  spheres. They thought God would always prefer simplicity over
  complexity. When they discovered that reality was more complicated
  than they thought, they just swept the complexity under a carpet of
  epicycles. That is, they created unnecessary complexity. This is an
  important point. The universe is complex, but it's usefully complex.

Zope's innards are complex, but it's useful complexity, complexity in
the right place, because it allows greater simplicity in the larger
system. (And thereby, still greater complexity in the "even larger"
system! :)

-Simon

* The book's content has been made available at
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html