From [Worse is Better](https://dreamsongs.com/WorseIsBetter.html) by Richard P. Gabriel (1989). ## Meaning ### Worse is Better - The New Jersey style Also known as The UNIX Philosophy. #### Simplicity - The design must be simple, both in implementation and interface.  - _It is more important for the implementation to be simple than the interface._ - Simplicity is the most important consideration in a design. #### Correctness - The design should be correct in all observable aspects. - It is slightly better to be simple than correct. #### Consistency - The design must not be overly inconsistent. - Consistency can be sacrificed for simplicity in some cases. - It is better to drop those parts of the design that deal with less common circumstances than to introduce either complexity or inconsistency in the implementation. #### Completeness - The design must cover as many important situations as is practical. - All reasonably expected cases should be covered. - Completeness can be sacrificed in favor of any other quality. - Completeness must be sacrificed whenever implementation simplicity is jeopardized. - Consistency can be sacrificed to achieve completeness if simplicity is retained. - Consistency of interface is especially worthless. ### The Right Thing - The MIT Approach #### Simplicity - It is more important for the interface to be simple than the implementation. #### Correctness - The design must be correct in all observable aspects. Incorrectness is simply not allowed. #### Consistency - The design must be consistent. - A design is allowed to be slightly less simple and less complete to avoid inconsistency. - Consistency is as important as correctness. #### Completeness - The design must cover as many important situations as is practical. - All reasonably expected cases must be covered. - Simplicity is not allowed to overly reduce completeness. ## Benefits - [[Brian Kernighan - Lex Fridman Short]] ## Sources - [Worse is Better](https://dreamsongs.com/WorseIsBetter.html) original essay, Richard P. Gapriel (1989) - [Worse is Better](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better) on wikipedia.