The cost of adding a feature isn’t just the time it takes to code it. The cost also includes the addition of an obstacle to future expansion. The trick is to pick the features that don’t fight each other.

Meaning of the quote

When you add a new feature to something, it's not just about the time it takes to actually create that feature. There's also the cost of making it harder to add more new features in the future. The best thing to do is choose features that work well together, instead of features that make it difficult to add more things later on.

About John Carmack

John Carmack is a pioneering American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the iconic id Software and was the lead programmer behind some of the most influential 3D games of the 1990s, including Doom and Quake. Carmack has also made groundbreaking contributions to 3D computer graphics and is now focusing his efforts on artificial general intelligence (AGI).

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More quotes from John Carmack

Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.

John Carmack

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Low-level programming is good for the programmer’s soul.

John Carmack

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Because of the nature of Moore’s law, anything that an extremely clever graphics programmer can do at one point can be replicated by a merely competent programmer some number of years later.

John Carmack

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I’d rather have a search engine or a compiler on a deserted island than a game.

John Carmack

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At its best, entertainment is going to be a subjective thing that can’t win for everyone, while at worst, a particular game just becomes a random symbol for petty tribal behavior.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

Programming is not a zero-sum game. Teaching something to a fellow programmer doesn’t take it away from you. I’m happy to share what I can, because I’m in it for the love of programming.

John Carmack

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Rocket science has been mythologized all out of proportion to its true difficulty.

John Carmack

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The speed of light sucks.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

The cost of adding a feature isn’t just the time it takes to code it. The cost also includes the addition of an obstacle to future expansion. The trick is to pick the features that don’t fight each other.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

The Xbox 360 is the first console that I’ve ever worked with that actually has development tools that are better for games than what we’ve had on PC.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

It’s nice to have a game that sells a million copies.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer

Everybody’s saturated with the marketing hype of next-generation consoles. They are wonderful, but the truth is that they are as powerful as a high end PC is right now.

John Carmack

American computer programmer and video game developer