The comment you replied to did not say anything about unit tests. And "software quality" is much broader than "data structure and code complexity".
I do think this gets to the heart of the matter. I think many programmers have missed the forest for the trees on why things like data structure and code complexity matter. They do matter, but they don't matter in and of themselves. They matter because they are the best techniques we have for making software that is of high quality (the software, that is, not the code) and which remains so over time, while continuing to be developed and adapted.
I strongly believe that it is now much easier to create software that is of high quality and adaptability, orthogonally to the data structure and code complexity concerns. Those concerns remain relevant, but it's a mistake to think of them as the primary thing rather than things that support the primary thing
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The comment you replied to did not say anything about unit tests. And "software quality" is much broader than "data structure and code complexity".
I do think this gets to the heart of the matter. I think many programmers have missed the forest for the trees on why things like data structure and code complexity matter. They do matter, but they don't matter in and of themselves. They matter because they are the best techniques we have for making software that is of high quality (the software, that is, not the code) and which remains so over time, while continuing to be developed and adapted.
I strongly believe that it is now much easier to create software that is of high quality and adaptability, orthogonally to the data structure and code complexity concerns. Those concerns remain relevant, but it's a mistake to think of them as the primary thing rather than things that support the primary thing