# A 2024 Plea for Lean Software (with running code)

DevFeed: [A 2024 Plea for Lean Software (with running code)](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-2024-plea-for-lean-software-with-running-code-36237.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/a-2024-plea-for-lean-software/>)

Published: 2024-01-18T09:22:53Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Bert Hubert's writings](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/bert-hubert-s-writings.md>)

Topics: [Software](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Computing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/computing.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>)

Tags: [computing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/computing.md>), [dependencies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dependencies.md>), [packages](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/packages.md>), [programming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/programming.md>), [provenance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/provenance.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software.md>)

## AI overview

This opinion revisits Niklaus Wirth's case for lean software, arguing that modern software has become excessively large and dependency-heavy, with serious security and quality consequences. It discusses the causes of this situation, possible regulatory responses, and a minimal modern software project as a practical example.

## Source excerpt

This post is dedicated to the memory of Niklaus Wirth, a computing pioneer who passed away January 1st. In 1995 he wrote an influential article called "A Plea for Lean Software", and in what follows, I try to make the same case nearly 30 years later, updated for today's computing horrors. The really short version: the way we build/ship software these days is mostly ridiculous, leading to 350MB packages that draw graphs, and simple products importing 1600 dependencies of unknown provenance.