The Importance Of Simplicity

I remember way back when, a number of colleagues engrossed in the latest Obfuscated C++ challenge, an exercise in making code so concise, so cryptic, that even the hardened coder paled.

This always struck me as an odd thing to want to do.  Why make things more complicated than they have to be?  Are code simplicity and readability not the important thing?  After all, software only spends a small fraction of its life being created.  The rest of the time it is being maintained, and usually by different people who are not going to appreciate your obscure brilliance.

Keep it simple, smart-arse.