[GiorgioG]

Where was the word “scientific” mentioned in the article? I don’t think you were the target reader they had in mind when the author wrote this. I’ve been programming since 1986, and this article resonates with my experience. More abstractions, layers, and so on requires my brain to have to keep track of more shit which takes away from doing the work that brought me to work on that bit of code (bug fix, feature work, debugging, etc.)

We’re very proud of you and the hard work you did to earn your PhD, now please stop trotting it out.

[wcrichton]

The article is attempting to use a scientific term of art, "cognitive load", to justify claims about programming. Those claim cannot be justified given the existing evidence about cognitive load. As I explain in my linked response, I nonetheless agree with many of the claims, but they're best understood as folk theories than scientific theories.

And I don't think condescension will make this a productive discussion!

[GiorgioG]

Maybe in your field the definition of cognitive load has a very specific, academic meaning. This article wasn’t meant for you.

[wcrichton]

My issue is that this article is trying to use cognitive load in its specific, academic meaning. It says:

> The average person can hold roughly four such chunks in working memory. Once the cognitive load reaches this threshold, it becomes much harder to understand things.

This is a paraphrase of the scientific meaning. "Intrinsic" and "extrinsic" cognitive load are also terms of art coined by John Sweller in his studies of working memory in education.

I agree the article isn't designed to be peer-reviewed science. And I agree the article has real insights that resonate with working developers. But I'm also a fan of honesty in scientific communication. When we say "vaccines prevent disease", that's based on both an enormous amount of data as well as a relatively precise theory of how vaccines work biologically. But if we say "composition reduces cognitive load", that's just based on personal experience. I think it's valuable to separate out the strength of the evidence for these claims.

[GiorgioG]

You’re exhausting.

[Tainnor]

Please don't do this on HN.

[cwbriscoe]

But, but he wrote a paper. He must be smart...