encoded notions

The abstract concept that rates a solution among other possible solutions. Elegant solutions in both physics and programming are often desired, since they represent a fusion between simplicity and complexity, sparseness and density, brevity and usefulness. In the end, you are searching for the best structure to represent some information or process—most of the time, that ideal solution is the elegant one.

The brain can sense elegance on a gut level. When I look at the code I write, I can’t tell you necessarily why something is more or less elegant than something else within the code, but I can tell you when something is off-kilter. It doesn’t feel quite right, so I refactor and reorganize until it makes unified sense as a whole.

Refactoring sometimes feels like reducing the number of complex items to the absolute minimum so that the possibility of future errors is decreased. Harmony is ensured. Elegance is fashioned from emptiness—from the blankness of a disk-file.