Common Fundamental Theorem of Software Development
This sounds like a load of pseudo-mathematical bullshit to me.<p>I agree with the principle behind it, which I believe to be &quot;all else being equal, fewer lines of code is better than more lines of code,&quot; but I&#x27;d argue that all else is rarely equal.  Sometimes, spelling things out in a slightly more verbose way is better than using some slick one-liner.<p>When I was in grad school, I was that guy who would strive to get his proofs as short as possible, but no shorter.  Since my audience consisted of fellow students (who could be expected to be at least as capable as me), and PhD mathematicians, a short, clever proof had much higher value than a long, plodding argument.  (But, even the short proof needed to be understandable: I recall reading a paper co-authored by several famous mathematicians that included a diagram to show the structure of the proof, not the mathematical objects that were the subject of the proof!)<p>Software is not mathematics and it shouldn&#x27;t be treated as such.  Remember that code is read many more times than it is written; and that the audience is the people who will come behind you and read the code, not the compiler.