When I was younger and learning how to play guitar, my main influence was U2's "The Edge." I was (and still am) fascinated with the way he did (and does) things.

I had grown up listening to plenty of different "guitar legends" doing their thing, and, although cool at first, they all eventually bored the snot out of me. It got to the point that I wanted to scream as soon as the "second verse guitar solo" started. They all had "second verse guitar solos."

I hate almost all guitar solos. I don't care where they come in, or who's playing. Most of them are just "musical" chest beating.

Guitar solos hold a little bit of novelty for those who have never heard them, but it doesn't take long to realize that you're listening to the same damn lines played by different people with minor variations, and no art (there are, of course, exceptions to this rule (I love Stevie Ray Vaughn, for example)).

The thing I really don't like is that so many guitar solos are just an attempt to jam as many notes as possible into as short a space as possible while using as many "I'm so flashy" techniques as possible. I find it upsetting that the desire to express technical proficiency takes precedence over the music. I think it's important to be a musician first and a guitar/piano/accordion/kazoo player second.

You know what, though? Many coders are just like the so-called "guitar gods." They set out to create applications that could be relatively simple, and they wind up jamming their code full of unnecessarily complex solutions. Things tend to be over architected, and too much is shoehorned into too small of a space. Even worse is that so many decisions rarely make sense. A lot of it also seems to be done in order to express the "I'm so flashy" sentiment that "guitar gods" exhibit. Rather than coming up with a simple and elegant solution, a convoluted maze of plumbing is constructed to satisfy the ego.

This is why I like The Edge. The guy has all the guitar talent in the world, but puts his efforts into creating elegant music rather than showing off his abilities with the instrument.

I remember reading an interview with him a few years ago in which he was discussing his method of composition. He said that he thinks of notes as being "very expensive." When writing, he ensures that he doesn't include anything that doesn't add value to the music. Each note, being as "expensive" as they are, is selected carefully, and its impact on the rest of the music is considered. That's brilliant.

I've tried to put this mode of thought to work in coding. I realized it this weekend when, while working on a personal project, I found myself accepting that I was going to have to use reflection to accomplish a particular task elegantly. When I realized that, I sat frozen at the computer for about ten minutes while thinking about whether or not there might have been a less "flashy" way to get things done. At the end of the thought, I didn't see a better alternative, so I went on ahead and used reflection, a very "expensive" note, to get the job done.

To me, where solutions are concerned, the simpler the better. I'd hire The Edge to work for me in a minute (if you're reading this, by the way, just send along your CV and I'll see what I can do).

Jimmy Page, on the other hand, would instead have to take a boot to the backside at the door.