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Cognitive load is what matters

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1455 points nromiun | 2 comments | 30 Aug 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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PeterWhittaker ◴[30 Aug 25 15:12 UTC] No.45075342[source]▶
The most important user of my temporary variables, à la "isValid" or "isSecure" is older/later me.

I could be adding a new feature six months later, or debugging a customer reported issue a week later. Especially in the latter case, where the pressure is greater and available time more constrained, I love that earlier/younger me was thoughtful enough to take the extra time to make things clear.

That this might help others is lagniappe.

replies(1): >>45078429 #
1. zahlman ◴[30 Aug 25 22:10 UTC] No.45078429[source]▶
> A lagniappe (/ˈlænjæp/ LAN-yap, /lænˈjæp/ lan-YAP) is "a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase" (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure."[2] It can be used more generally as meaning any extra or unexpected benefit.[3]

> The word entered English from the Louisiana French adapting a Quechua word brought in to New Orleans by the Spanish Creoles.

... I see.

replies(1): >>45079963 #
2. PeterWhittaker ◴[31 Aug 25 02:58 UTC] No.45079963[source]▶
Quite a lovely word. Learned it from Steinem writing a foreword for a Doonesbury collection in which she excoriated Buckley for his use of the term to describe the fourth panel, the main punchline often having come in the third, in his foreword for a previous collection.