Once we accept code as communication, the constraints change: machines have no trouble with verbosity, indirection, or awkward naming, but humans do. A compiler will happily execute dense expressions and cryptic variables; a teammate returning six months later will pay the cost in misread assumptions and fragile changes.
Consequently, most engineering effort shifts from initial creation to ongoing modification. Frederick P. Brooks’ “The Mythical Man-Month” (1975) emphasizes that software complexity compounds coordination and understanding costs; Abelson’s quote lands on the same pressure point, suggesting that clarity is not aesthetic—it is an efficiency strategy for the real limiting resource: human attention. [...]
