Software complexity also helps to establish or maintain the predominance of large corporations on the market. In contrast, a simple software system can be reimplemented by a small team or even a single person, so there is more competition. This is not only demonstrated by Wirth's systems, but also by several 7th edition Unix clones of the 80's [1-4] as well as current ones [5] and also reimplementations of the classic MacOS [6].
Back in the 1980s, operating systems and compilers were often seen as the most complex pieces of software. Nowadays, web browsers include (and reimplement) large parts of an OS and compiler and are probably even more complex than a current OS such as Linux or a current compiler such as clang/LLVM. Only rich (or well funded) companies such as Google, Apple and the Mozilla foundation can afford to build a browser today that can be used to access current web pages.
So a central question is if we can turn back times and make software more simple again. Maybe this ship has already sailed - but it can't hurt to try. From experience with my students, it is extremely satisfying for them to build a complete system from scratch instead of mostly copying and pasting library calls or StackOverflow code snippets. Thus, I try to enable my students to experience this sense of achievement. They will probably never get the chance to do something similar in their later career in industry.
Back in the 1980s, operating systems and compilers were often seen as the most complex pieces of software. Nowadays, web browsers include (and reimplement) large parts of an OS and compiler and are probably even more complex than a current OS such as Linux or a current compiler such as clang/LLVM. Only rich (or well funded) companies such as Google, Apple and the Mozilla foundation can afford to build a browser today that can be used to access current web pages.
So a central question is if we can turn back times and make software more simple again. Maybe this ship has already sailed - but it can't hurt to try. From experience with my students, it is extremely satisfying for them to build a complete system from scratch instead of mostly copying and pasting library calls or StackOverflow code snippets. Thus, I try to enable my students to experience this sense of achievement. They will probably never get the chance to do something similar in their later career in industry.
[1] One Man Unix for 68k - http://www.pix.net/mirrored/discordia.org.uk/~steve/omu.html
[2] Uzix for Z80 (link to the MSX port) - http://uzix.sourceforge.net
[3] Coherent Unix - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coherent_(operating_system)
[4] Minix - https://www.minix3.org
[5] Alan Cox' Fuzix - https://github.com/EtchedPixels/FUZIX
[6] Ardi Executor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executor_(software)