Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Why don't they just call it a feature?



The use of domain-specific language signals membership in the domain. Such as "pushing to origin" instead of "uploading to the remote Git instance".


Watchmaking likely predates the usage of 'feature' as a general term for the same concept.


Complication is just a watchmaking term for what others might call features


A pretty accurate one in software also.


Tedu (OpenBSD) considers features to be (unnecessary) complications


Because the mechanism and it's purpose; namely, keeping track of time, is further complicated when doing something else.


It occurs to me that 'complication' is a better engineering term. Next to 'complication', 'feature' seems like an unfortunate euphemism.


I think so too. Given a mechanical context, a complication is very significant. People should think in those terms as there are no freebies.

Overly complicated mechanisms tend to be less robust, perform more poorly,require more energy, and more.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: