rfc, 3439 - Some Internet Architectural Guidelines and Philosophy

This document attempts to codify long-understood Internet architectural principles. In particular, the unifying principle described here is best expressed by the Simplicity Principle, which states complexity must be controlled if one hopes to efficiently scale a complex object.

The idea that simplicity itself can lead to some form of optimality has been a common theme throughout history, and has been stated in many other ways and along many dimensions. For example, consider the maxim known as Occam's Razor, which was formulated by the medieval English philosopher and Franciscan monk William of Ockham (ca. 1285-1349), and states "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate" or "plurality should not be posited without necessity." (hence Occam's Razor is sometimes called "the principle of unnecessary plurality" and " the principle of simplicity").

A perhaps more contemporary formulation of Occam's Razor states that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is the one preferred by nature. Other formulations of the same idea can be found in the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle and the Principle of Least Astonishment (the assertion that the most usable system is the one that least often leaves users astonished). [WILLINGER2002] provides a more theoretical discussion of "robustness through simplicity", and in discussing the PSTN, [KUHN87] states that in most systems, "a trade-off can be made between simplicity of interactions and looseness of coupling".