KISS See also [1]minimalism. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!; also KISR, keep it simple, retard) is a [2]minimalist design philosophy that favors simplicity, both internal and external, [3]technology that is as simple as possible to achieve given task. This philosophy doesn't primarily stem from [4]laziness or a desire to rush something (though these are completely valid reasons too), but mainly from the fact that higher [5]complexity comes with increasingly negative effects such as the cost of development, cost of [6]maintenance, greater probability of [7]bugs and failure, more [8]dependencies etc. WATCH OUT: various scum has started to ride on the wave of the "KISS" trend and abuse the term, twisting its true meaning; for example GNU/Linux Mint has started to market itself as "KISS" -- that's of course ridiculous and all Mint developers are cretins and idiots. Maximum INTERNAL simplicity is a necessary prerequisite for the KISS philosophy, anything that's just simple on the outside is a mere harmful [9]pseudominimalism -- you may as well use a [10]Mac. Under dystopian [11]capitalism simple [12]technology, such as simple [13]software, has at least one more advantage connected to "[14]intellectual property": a simple solution is less likely to step on a [15]patent landmine because such a simple solution will either be hard to patent or as more obvious will have been discovered and patented sooner and the patent is more likely to already be expired. So in this sense KISS technology is legally safer. Apparently the term KISS originated in the US Army plane engineering: the planes needed to be repairable by stupid soldiers with limited tools under field conditions. Examples of KISS "[16]solutions" include: * Using a [17]plain text file instead of a dedicated [18]bug tracker (TODO.txt), note taking program etc. * Creating website in plain [19]HTML instead of using some complex web framework such as [20]Wordpress. * Using solar panels directly, without a battery, if it's [21]good enough. * Implementing a web left-right sweeping image gallery with HTML [22]iframe instead of some overcomplicated [23]JavaScript library. { Example stolen from [24]reactionary software website. ~drummyfish } * Supporting only [25]ASCII instead of [26]Unicode, it is [27]good enough. * Using a plain text flat file instead of a [28]database system. * Using [29]markdown for creating documents, as opposed to using office programs such as [30]Libreoffice. * Using a trivial [31]shell script for compiling your programs rather than a complex build system such as [32]CMake. * Using [33]ASCII art instead of bitmap images. * [34]Beatboxing to produce a back track for rap songs, as opposed to using (or even paying for) some kind of music software. * In the world of [35]coffee so called Turkish coffee without any milk and sugar is probably the most KISS option, you just put coffee ground in a mug and pour hot water on it. Compare this to Espresso with milk and sugar which needs a quite complex and expensive machine. { Yeah, I drink the most KISS coffee, though sometimes I also use French press -- that one is still quite simple. ~drummyfish } * ... Compared to [36]suckless, [37]Unix philosophy and [38]LRS, KISS is a more general term and isn't tied to any specific group or movement, it doesn't imply any specifics but rather the general overall idea of simplicity being an advantage ([39]less is more, [40]worse is better, ...). [41]KISS Linux is an example of software developed under this philosophy and adapting the term itself. See Also * [42]minimalism * [43]suckless * [44]KILL * [45]primitivism * [46]LRS * [47]KISP Links: 1. minimalism.md 2. minimalism.md 3. tech.md 4. laziness.md 5. complexity.md 6. maintenance.md 7. bug.md 8. dependency.md 9. pseudominimalism.md 10. mac.md 11. capitalism.md 12. tech.md 13. software.md 14. intellectual_property.md 15. patent.md 16. solution.md 17. plain_text.md 18. bug.md 19. html.md 20. wordpress.md 21. good_enough.md 22. iframe.md 23. js.md 24. reactionary_software.md 25. ascii.md 26. unicode.md 27. good_enough.md 28. database.md 29. markdown.md 30. libreoffice.md 31. shell.md 32. cmake.md 33. ascii_art.md 34. beatbox.md 35. coffee.md 36. suckless.md 37. unix_philosophy.md 38. lrs.md 39. less_is_more.md 40. worse_is_better.md 41. kiss_linux.md 42. minimalism.md 43. suckless.md 44. kill.md 45. primitivism.md 46. lrs.md 47. kisp.md