Longer code does NOT automatically mean "more readable," and shorter code does NOT automatically mean "clever and cryptic"
While there is a case to be made about not compressing too much logic into cryptic one-liners, a lot of people seem to go too far in the opposite direction, and act as though "longer" means "more readable" no matter what. Their code is still not readable if theirs is overly explicit, verbose, and redundant code that buries meaning in unnecessary ceremony. Good readable code is concise and clear without wasting my time wading through obvious ceremony to extract meaning. Some of the worst offenders I see are things like:
if (x > 10) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
Instead of just:
return x > 10;
Like, seriously, just stop. The short version communicates the actual intent of "return whether x > 10" directly. That is straightforward and not "clever." Turning one crystal clear line into five for no reason is absolutely not helpful. The longer form indicates that the programmer does not understand how conditional expressions work. Go learn, instead of infantilizing the codebase.
The short form is literally quicker to understand once you already internalize that conditions like x > 10 already produce values of true/false even for beginners. The expanded version is not helpful and can actually reinforce the misconception that conditions are somehow tied to if or somehow different from literal true/false values themselves.
This is just one of the more egregious examples, but yeah, stop assuming longer is automatically more readable, or that shorter is automatically less readable.