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"Simple Made Easy" - Rich Hickey (2011)

Strange Loop Conference · talk · Watch on YouTube

Software architecture & designFunctional programming

What it is

Rich Hickey's Strange Loop 2011 keynote distinguishing 'simple' (not intertwined) from 'easy' (familiar or near at hand). It argues that software complexity comes from complecting things and that we should pick simple constructs.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN treats it as the canonical talk on software complexity, shared constantly and recommended to every programmer regardless of language.

  • 14 people recommended it
  • 14 different months
  • 6 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I've come to believe that complexity is the worst sin we commit.”

    Shaped the commenter's view that complexity is the worst sin.

    idunnoman, 2022-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Learnings from 5 years of tech startup code audits”

  2. “is a must-watch (even if you never touch Clojure)”

    Must-watch talk on simple versus easy, beyond Clojure.

    tincholio, 2022-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Most(LY Dead) Influential Programming Languages (2020)”

  3. “a talk I’ve loved forever by Rich Hickey”

    Talk the commenter has loved for ages.

    alanwreath, 2023-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Simplicity”

  4. “Every programmer who wants to use that word needs to watch this”

    Clarifies complex versus merely difficult.

    globular-toast, 2025-01 · Strong recommendation · in “A better build system for OCaml”

  5. “You need to watch this”

    Rich Hickey on simple versus easy and judging technology beyond superficial ease.

    bad_haircut72, 2025-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Lua for Elixir”

  6. “Rich Hickey's Simple Made Easy # is a superb discussion about this in the context of software.”

    A superb discussion of simplicity in the context of software.

    Lyngbakr, 2025-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Nine things I learned in ninety years”

  7. “Obligatory Simple Made Easy link”

    Classic talk on simple versus easy.

    hinkley, 2023-02 · Recommendation · in “Do the Simplest Thing That Can Possibly Work (2004)”

  8. “There’s this really great talk about this idea by rich hickey”

    Dives into simple versus easy and implicit state.

    weatherlight, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “Teach yourself Computer Science functionally”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: rich hickey, simplicity, complecting, clojure, software design, strange loop

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