principle-minimize-reader-load

Count the layers between a question and its answer, then collapse wrappers with one caller and adapters with no second implementation. Also shrink mutable state scope by preferring pure functions, locals over fields, and derivation over synchronization.

Reader load is the work a reader must do to understand code, measured on two axes: layers of indirection to trace and hidden mutable state to hold in memory. It matters more than proxies like LOC or cyclomatic complexity because code is read far more than it is written.

Collapse a layer when it costs more than it saves: wrappers with a single caller, adapters with no second implementation, or pass-through layers that repeat the same methods and arguments. A layer should change the abstraction or hide meaningful decisions.

Prefer pure functions that return values over mutations, locals over fields, fields over module state, and module state over globals. Derive values instead of syncing them, and name invariants once at the boundary rather than in every consumer.

A new layer or piece of state is justified only if it reduces reader load elsewhere by at least as much as it adds. Test whether a new reader can answer where a value comes from and what can change it in under 30 seconds.