Bananas Quote by Joe Armstrong
“The problem with object-oriented languages is they've got all this implicit environment that they carry around with them. You wanted a banana but what you got was a gorilla holding the banana and the entire jungle.”
About This Quote
Source Talk: Functional Programming Conference, 2014
Object‑oriented languages hide complex environments, making simple tasks feel overly complicated.
In simple terms: OO hides complexity, making simple tasks cumbersome.
Key Takeaway
Choose simpler abstractions when possible.
Themes
programming
abstraction
complexity
design
Mood
critical
reflective
Type
analytical
thought‑provoking
When to use this quote
- building small tools
- refactoring code
- team onboarding
- debugging
Key Concepts
software architecture
implicity
encapsulation
Questions to Reflect On
- When is OO appropriate?
- How can you reduce hidden complexity?
A Different Perspective
Sometimes OO offers needed modularity.
![“Object-oriented programming aficionados think that everything is an object… this [isn't] so. There are things that are objects. Things that have state and change their state are objects. And then there are things that are not objects. A binary search is not an object. It is an algorithm” quote by Alexander Stepanov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ef9/alexander-stepanov-55292_algorithms_object-oriented-programming-aficionados_89704.jpg)
