leaner code is cleaner code is more efficient code

leaner code is cleaner code is more efficient code. a program with 100 lines of code is better than a program with 10,000 lines of code. less prone to bugs and (un)intentional security holes, easier to decode/maintain, cheaper to run... etc.

of course, comments are not code and documentation is to be encouraged. but documentation should be maintained separate from code; not maintained within the code. any documentation change should not result in code change requests.

i'm gradually migrating to the console, which is where it all started! :-) i strongly prefer working from the console, mainly because console apps are leaner and not dependant on unnecessary services like mouse or window manager. i fire up x, only only when i need to use gui apps. i work on the console within tmux (previously screen), which allows me to keep my environment when i transfer between console and x.

i am on a constant quest for more efficient apps. soon as i find one, i change over. efficiency means smaller code, focussed approach. for example, i changed over from screen to tmux a while back, and from ratpoison to dwm more recently.