Taylor Troesh, Compressing Codebase Collocates:
To decompress a codebase, inline its paths of execution. For example, rewrite each endpoint of a webserver with only standard library functions and simple database drivers. One can repeat the decompression process all the way to bedrock machine code, but most programs accrue diminishing returns before that point.
To compress a codebase, recursively replace collocates with equivalent”zero-cost” abstractions. Don’t try to outsmart yourself — prioritize infrastructure for the most egregious repetition frictions of digital desire paths.
Writing code for compression/expansion is sticking around in my head. First, because the result seems concise and punchy, two of my favorite qualities in writing for humans.
Second, because there’s something organic and creative to the cycle of making something, trying to subtract the non-essential, adding to make more something, subtracting to improve the something-ness of it. Repeated cycles reveal more about what something actually is, often unknown to us at the outset or surprising when we discover its essence after many iterations or de-/re-compression cycles.
Dang old intellectual endeavors, sometimes they’re really something.