Wirth's Law
Origin
In 1995, Switzerland's Niklaus Wirth (creator of Pascal) wrote "A Plea for Lean Software" in IEEE Computer. Moore's Law doubled hardware speed, but software grew heavier even faster. Wirth raged against the bloat of 1990s Office and Windows, calling for an ethic of simplicity.
Meaning
Why a 1990 Pentium booted in 1 second but a 2024 i9 takes 30. New features added yearly, 80% unused. IRC was lighter than Slack. Wirth's message: simplicity is not laziness but the hardest virtue.
Lesson — Meeting Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching 48: "Learning adds daily; the Way subtracts daily." Laozi taught that the deepest truth comes by removal. Wirth's Law is the place where learning (features) eats the Way (essence).
"緩" combines thread (糸) with pulling (爰) — slowly unwinding thread, slowness. The Analects: "A gentleman is not a vessel." But a sluggish (緩) vessel that has grown bounded — that is software's fate. Subtract; do not add.
