{"id":36,"date":"2021-07-02T10:35:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iterudio.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2021-07-02T10:35:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T14:35:03","slug":"simplicity-and-beauty-vs-elegance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"Simplicity and Beauty vs Elegance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consider the fact that a hammer is “simple” – and in the hands of a killed craftsman might be used in an elegant manner<\/em>. However, if someone has never seen a nail – what would they think a “claw hammer” does?

If someone had spent their entire life living in buildings made of stone, they might look at a sledge hammer and assume it is used for breaking stones – but then what if someone has never seen a “stone.”

The sledge hammer is “simpler” than the claw hammer – but neither qualifies as “elegant.”

e.g. the hypothetical person that has lived in stone buildings but never seen a sledge hammer used MIGHT assume that the way you use a sledge hammer is to drop it onto the stone, rather than swing the hammer by its handle.

In the “world if I.T.” the “command line interface” (CLI) is “simple” but not elegant. In much the same way that a keyboard might be considered a “simple” device but a vast amount of “prior knowledge” is required to USE the keyboard to enter commands in a CLI.

Wait, wait, wait, surely the mouse is “elegant” – nope, sorry. James Doohan<\/a> in Star Trek IV<\/a> comes to mind (i.e. the scene with “Scotty” using the 1980’s style personal computer)

A “graphical user interface” (GUI) can easily be “beautiful” – but again a vast amount of prior knowledge is required e.g. Microsoft famously claimed that the purpose of including solitaire as part of “Microsoft Windows” was so that users could practice using the mouse and interacting with the user interface. As a “long time I.T. professional” it is easy to forget that things like “double clicking, click and drag, etc” have to be learned at some point – so for the novice user, playing Solitaire can actually be a “training exercise.”

BTW “form follows function” in “computer terms” might be expressed as “software runs on hardware.” The most beautifully designed 2021 GUI quickly becomes unusable if you try to run it on “old” hardware.

Ten+ years ago I was fond of pointing out that the real difference between Apple, Inc<\/a> and Microsoft, Inc<\/a> was that Apple sold high end hardware and included an operating system, while Microsoft sold an operating system that could be installed on the hardware of your choice.

Of course Apple<\/em> devices “just worked” but the operating system and hardware were designed to work together – which is a much different than trying to sell an operating system that runs well on unknown hardware configurations.

Of course in 2021 Apple, Inc is really a cell phone company and Microsoft has become a “software as a subscription” and “cloud services” company (ten+ years ago, I would have called Apple a “consumer electronics” company and Microsoft was still an “operating system” company – and we are moving on)

The relationship between “simplicity, beauty, elegance” and human beings is probably a “two-drinks” question (i.e. the type of thing best discussed while having a friendly conversation over drinks of your choice).

Since I’ve been “job interviewing” a lot recently (without much success) – it has occurred to me that I (probably) come across as “arrogant” to the average “job search committee.”

Am I arrogant – well, obviously I don’t think so – BUT I can understand others perceiving me as arrogant. Being self-confident and sure of your skills does not make you “arrogant<\/a>” – thinking that you are “superior” makes you arrogant (and I am only a humble servant – maybe my “manner” is perceived as arrogant).

But here the issue is about “perception and reality” – i.e. simplicity of character that has been acquired from “self examination\/introspection” might be beautiful AND therefore a form of “elegance of character” but is easily misunderstood\/misinterpreted.

Maybe this is the difference between “eccentric soul vs crazy old man” – but ANYWAY …

George Harrison had three #1 hits as a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and 5 top ten hits overall – “What Is Life” (mentioned in another post) peaked at #10 in 1971 then 10 years later “All Those Years Ago<\/a>” peaked at #2

(other shoe dropping: the #1’s were Got My Mind Set on You” in 1988 – which was a “cover” song. “Give Me Love” – 1973, and finally “My Sweet Lord” – 1970)

“All Those Years Ago” is obviously about John Lennon – the rumor is that Mr Harrison had written the song before John Lennon was shot (December 8, 1980 – obviously with different lyrics) then reworked the lyrics to become a “tribute” song.

Tribute songs can be tricky – “George Harrison songwriter” always had an “upbeat” sound (that used to be called “pop rock”) – “George Harrison human being” was the “quiet one” of the “Fab Four.” SO this “tribute” song doesn’t mourn John Lennon’s untimely death but celebrates his life (which is its own form of “elegance”) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consider the fact that a hammer is “simple” – and in the hands of a killed craftsman might be used in an elegant manner. However, if someone has never seen a nail – what would they think a “claw hammer” does? If someone had spent their entire life living in buildings made of stone, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,20],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-computers","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}