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Avoiding complexity reduces bugs.
Linus Torvalds
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Simplicity in design leads to fewer errors in software.

The quote emphasizes the importance of simplicity in system design, particularly in software development. Linus Torvalds suggests that by avoiding unnecessary complexity, developers are more likely to create robust, error-free code, which ultimately results in better software performance and maintainability.

Themes

SimplicitySoftwareBugsDesignDevelopment

In practice

Example use cases

In a presentation on software design, you might use this quote to highlight the benefits of maintaining simplicity in coding practices.

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Software patents, in particular, are very ripe for abuse. The whole system encourages big corporations getting thousands and thousands of patents. Individuals almost never get them.
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I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.
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Most of the good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.
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I have an ego the size of a small planet.
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I've felt strongly that the advantage of Linux is that it doesn't have a niche or any special market, but that different individuals and companies end up pushing it in the direction they want, and as such you end up with something that is pretty balanced across the board.
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Quote by Linus Torvalds | QuoteProject