# Accidental complexity in "friendly" main program, a mini case study

**URL:** <https://forum.malleable.systems/t/accidental-complexity-in-friendly-main-program-a-mini-case-study/448>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [20 July 2026 21:57 UTC](https://forum.malleable.systems/t/accidental-complexity-in-friendly-main-program-a-mini-case-study/448 "2026-07-20T21:57:57Z")\
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**Author:** ![yihanwu1024](https://forum-cdn.malleable.systems/user_avatar/forum.malleable.systems/yihanwu1024/32/903_2.png) [@yihanwu1024](https://forum.malleable.systems/u/yihanwu1024)\
**Post date:** [1 August 2026 15:49 UTC](https://forum.malleable.systems/t/accidental-complexity-in-friendly-main-program-a-mini-case-study/448/9 "2026-08-01T15:49:49Z")

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> [@](#):
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> Using stdin/stdout + README suggesting redirctions has a major weakness: **Files don’t describe their provenance**.

Even if you use author-determined names, the right value behind that name must be immutable to be satisfactory. This is the mutability problem all again.

I have considered that in a separate topic, [History as a First-class Citizen](https://forum.malleable.systems/t/history-as-a-first-class-citizen/293), which is all about built-in provenance.

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