  A class of discrete equations is considered from three perspectives
corresponding to three measures of the complexity of solutions: the (hyper-)
order of meromorphic solutions in the sense of Nevanlinna, the degree growth of
iterates over a function field and the height growth of iterates over the
rational numbers. In each case, low complexity implies a form of singularity
confinement which results in a known discrete Painlev\'e equation.
