Why I Prefer Simple Code Over 'Smart' Code

Source: Dev.to

Why Simple Code Matters

When I started learning to code, I thought good code meant clever code—short variable names, one‑liners that did a bunch of stuff at once, logic squeezed into as few lines as possible. It looked impressive and felt impressive.

But over time, something became really clear: the code I understood fastest was never the “smart” one. It was always the simple one. That changed how I think about writing code.

What “Smart” Code Usually Means

When people say “smart” code, they usually mean stuff like:

• really compact logic
• clever tricks and shortcuts
• doing more with fewer lines
• code that makes you go “wait, how does that even work?”

I’m not saying clever code is always bad—sometimes it makes sense. But that “smart” code is often hard to read, especially when it’s someone else’s.

You Don’t Read Code Just Once

You don’t just write code and forget about it. You come back to it: you need to fix something, add a feature, or you’ve completely forgotten how a function works. When the code is simple, all of that becomes much easier. Simple code tells a story; you don’t have to stop every few lines and decode what’s happening. Honestly, when I open something I wrote a month ago, I just want to understand it without getting annoyed at myself.

An Actual Example From My Code

Okay, real talk. I was calculating a shopping cart total and wrote this:

# My "clever" version
total = sum([item['price'] * item['qty'] for item in cart if item['available']])

One line. Worked perfectly. Felt efficient. I stared at it for a minute thinking, “This works… but how am I supposed to change it without breaking something?”

So I rewrote it:

# Simple version
total = 0
for item in cart:
    if item['available']:
        total += item['price'] * item['qty']

It’s more lines, but at least I could understand it. Nothing felt hidden, so when I needed to change it I wasn’t worried about breaking everything.

Debugging Simple Code Doesn’t Make Me Want to Quit

When something breaks, I don’t want to untangle clever nested logic. I just want to see what went wrong, where a value changed, or which condition failed. With simple code, the problem usually jumps out at you. With “smart” code, everything’s packed so tight that even finding a small bug takes forever. As someone still learning, that matters—debugging is hard enough without the code fighting you.

Simple Doesn’t Mean Messy

Simple code doesn’t mean:

• bad code
• repetitive code that could be better
• no structure at all

Simple code just means clear, readable, understandable. Some of the best code I’ve seen online is simple—not because the author couldn’t write something fancier, but because they cared more about clarity than impressiveness.

Clarity Over Cleverness

I’m not anti‑clever‑code; I’m just saying clever code that nobody can read doesn’t help me improve. Right now, I want code that:

• I can read without squinting
• I can debug without crying
• I can actually explain if someone asks

Maybe someday I’ll write more advanced stuff, but even then I hope I don’t sacrifice clarity just to look clever. Code isn’t just about making it work; it’s about making it understandable. For me, simple code does that way better.

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How do you approach this when you’re coding? Curious what works for you.