On the php|architect blog Keith Casey has a new post that suggests something a bit counterintuitive to what a lot of developers think about their code - less code isn't always better.

Everyone says “I could build that in an afternoon/weekend/marathon session of caffeine-fueled code-debauchery” but to actually do something well, unsurprisingly, it usually takes longer.

He gives an example of this forum script that's under 1KB of code (949 bytes or so) and has some of the basic features of any forum software out there. Keith talks about the software - the features included, the included security, how it uses quotes to its advantage and how it only uses the basic functionality of PHP to make it all work.

Keith also includes a few criticisms of the code like how it uses short tags, the lack of linebreaks, using $_REQUEST and a few more.

To be blunt, it’s not pretty and doesn’t have many features, but honestly, I fluctuate between terrified and impressed by the feat. [...] More than anything, it’s refreshing and fascinating to see what someone can do when they set clear, simple, direct priorities and focus exclusively on those.