:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2026-05-27 Wed]
:ID:       09a03e7f-c3f8-438a-abe3-7a7570957565
:END:
#+title: Worse is Better
#+filetags: :resources:worse-is-better:gabriel:graham:lisp:

Collection of the canonical articles in the Worse is Better debate, saved as local resources. See [[id:dddd52a7-adb8-470e-a459-614ade5f76af][Closing the Lisp Gap]] for the strategic analysis in context of Passepartout.

* Richard P. Gabriel

Original essays and sequels on the worse-is-better dynamic. Text versions (.html) render in a browser. PDF versions (.pdf) include the original published formatting.

| Article | Format | Year | File |
|---------|--------|------|------|
| Lisp: Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big | HTML | 1990 | [[file:worse-is-better/lisp-good-news-bad-news.html]] |
| The Rise of Worse is Better | HTML | 1991 | [[file:worse-is-better/rise-of-worse-is-better.html]] |
| Worse Is Better Is Worse (as Nickieben Bourbaki) | PDF | 1991-1992 | [[file:worse-is-better/worse-is-better-is-worse.pdf]] |
| Is Worse Really Better? | PDF | 1992 | [[file:worse-is-better/is-worse-really-better.pdf]] |
| Back to the Future: Is Worse (Still) Better? | PDF | 2000 | [[file:worse-is-better/back-to-future-is-worse-still-better.pdf]] |
| Back to the Future: Worse (Still) is Better! | PDF | 2000 | [[file:worse-is-better/back-to-future-worse-still-is-better.pdf]] |

All sourced from https://www.dreamsongs.com/

** Lisp: Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big

Gabriel's 1990 EuroPAL keynote. The original essay containing the Worse is Better argument in the context of an analysis of Lisp's failure in the marketplace compared to C/Unix. Diagnoses Lisp's technical advantages contrasted with its lack of ecosystem adoption.

** The Rise of Worse is Better

The section from the above essay that Jamie Zawinski extracted and circulated in 1991. Contains the canonical statement of the Worse is Better philosophy: simplicity of implementation over interface, sufficient correctness over perfect, consistency and completeness subordinate to simplicity.

** Worse Is Better Is Worse

Gabriel's pseudonymous attack on his own Worse is Better concept, written under the name Nickieben Bourbaki (modeled after Nicolas Bourbaki, the collective pseudonym of French mathematicians). Argues that the Worse is Better approach produces systems that cannot be repaired because the accumulation of compromises makes them structurally unsound.

** Is Worse Really Better?

Gabriel's rebuttal to his own pseudonymous attack, published in the Journal of Object-Oriented Programming (JOOP). Written as his real self defending the Worse is Better position.

** Back to the Future (both sides)

OOPSLA 2000 panel position papers. Martine Devos requested a position paper; Gabriel wrote one against Worse is Better, then a month later wrote one in favor. Both were combined into the panel's position paper. The fishbowl format had participants switching sides throughout.

* Paul Graham

| Article | Format | Year | File |
|---------|--------|------|------|
| Beating the Averages | HTML | 2001 | [[file:worse-is-better/beating-the-averages.html]] |
| The Hundred-Year Language | HTML | 2003 | [[file:worse-is-better/hundred-year-language.html]] |

Sourced from https://www.paulgraham.com/

** Beating the Averages

Argues that Lisp's power (macros, REPL, dynamic typing) gives its users a "quantum advantage" in productivity, but that this advantage is invisible to competitors because they cannot distinguish superior technology from luck. Introduces the "Blub paradox": programmers in mediocre languages cannot recognize the power of better ones.

** The Hundred-Year Language

Argues that languages evolve toward Lisp-like features over long timescales: garbage collection, dynamic typing, macros, interactive development. Claims that the features we add to languages today are all things Lisp had in 1960. Predicts that future languages will look like Lisp with better syntax.
