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In Tim Peters's poem "The Zen of Python" (PEP 20), there is a line that goes:

Complex is better than complicated.

I like the theme of the poem, but this particular line has always vexed me. What exactly does this mean in the context of Python and programming?

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This type of question is now being discussed on our meta-discussion site. – user8 Dec 5 '11 at 20:18
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Complexity is part of the problem, complicated is the wrong solution. – Gilbert Le Blanc May 29 '12 at 14:55

6 Answers

up vote 23 down vote accepted

The apparent differences between the two words are as follows

Complex is defined as:

composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite

Complicated is defined as:

difficult to analyze, understand, explain, etc.: a complicated problem.

Note: complicated has the same definition as complex but also has the definition displayed here.

So it means that it can be composed of many parts but not difficult to understand and comprehend.

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The line of the poem is hard to understand because in normal English usage we don't really make this distinction between complex and complicated. Mirriam-Webster dictionary complex "a whole made up of complicated or interrelated parts" (emphasis mine). Programming works better in prose than poetry. Poets don't write to be understood. – MarkJ May 29 '12 at 12:19
Where were these definitions from? The OED makes no such easy distinction. – Paddy3118 Jun 6 '12 at 21:36
up vote 11 down vote

One could say that having the entire Python library separated into hundreds of modules and packages is "complex". There's a lot to it.

But the language itself is not "complicated" because it's stripped bare of all that extra baggage.

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+1 - agreed, the extra baggage is what makes things complicated. – A----------------------- ----- Mar 1 '11 at 19:54
up vote 7 down vote

In my understanding, complicated means being unnecessarily complex; there are plenty of things that are complex and still useful, fourier series, integrals, etc. "Complicated" for me brings me the image of entanglement, confusion.

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+1: Nice. "Complicated" == confusion. – S.Lott Mar 1 '11 at 19:58
up vote 1 down vote

Complicated: tangled ball of wires connecting massive numbers of computers together.

Complex: same wires with same network topology, but carefully wound, labeled, tied, and documented.

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So basically, the difference between how the wires were run at the time of installation/setup. And how they are today... – CaffGeek Dec 5 '11 at 20:06
up vote 1 down vote

definition

  • Complexity refers to a system, complicacy to parts of a system or the logical correlation between the parts.
  • Something complicated can be simplified without loss of function, unlike something complex.
  • With knowledge, you can solve complicated tasks, but only with skill, you can solve complex tasks.

quote

Technology develops from the primitive via the complex to the simple (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry [1900 – 1944])

fun fact

i² = -1 (complexity squared equals -1)

links

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up vote 0 down vote

I'm going to go WAY out on a limb, and dust off some fundamental English grammar.

"Complex" is an adjective. It describes an inherent property. Example: Some systems are complex.

"Complicated" is used as an adjective, but it is in fact the past tense of a verb, "to complicate". Example: This mess is complicated because 47 different managers all worked overtime to complicate what should have been a simple CRUD app.

When something is complicated, it is because some other agent has worked hard to complicate it. (This usage also appears in the medical field.)

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