Software Architecture Is Overrated, Clear and Simple Design Is Underrated
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderFirst 1-3 years of coding, I just coded to get sht done. I got a lot of sht done. Next 4-8 years, I started getting cute with it and applied all kinds of design patterns, Factory, Abstractions, DI, Facade, Singleton you name it. It looked cute and felt good when it all worked but it was a juggling act. There was usually like 2-3 files to touch just to do one thing. UserFactory, UserService, UserModel, User, you get the idea…
The money quote is here: Actually, our approach is not that different in principle, to most architecture guides. This whole article is basically clickbait. The author appears to be arguing against some ill-defined strawman, but in the end even concedes that that isn't true. They are doing architecture, they just aren't doing it according to "the software architecture literature". Whoop de freaking doo. That statement could be applied to probably 99% of companies out there. The important thing to realize…
(2019) Popular in 2022 (136 points, 31 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32392793 2019 (608 points, 211 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21001676
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 751
- Total comments
- 244
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-17 | Software Architecture Is Overrated, Clear and Simple Design Is Underrated | gregdoesit | 3 | 0 |
| 2019-09-18 | Software Architecture Is Overrated, Clear and Simple Design Is UnderratedFirst breakout · Best thread | signa11 | 608 | 211 |
| 2021-12-15 | Software Architecture Is Overrated, Clear and Simple Design Is Underrated | rbanffy | 2 | 0 |
| 2022-08-09 | Software Architecture Is Overrated, Clear and Simple Design Is Underrated (2019)Latest 20+ point return | lawgimenez | 136 | 31 |
| 2025-11-16 | Software architecture is overrated, clear and simple design is underratedHall induction | fanf2 | 2 | 2 |