dictionary for developer cave

Big words.
Small brain.

grug not so smart. grug program many long year. here words grug use to name things hiding in code cave.

find word ↓

grug first law

complexity
very, very bad01

cave lexicon

words grug know

24 of 24 words

creatures

big brain

human say: smart developer who may overthink

very smart tribe member. make many layer before anyone know what thing do. not villain. must harness for good.

"big brain draw seven box. grug ask for working demo."

cave life

black think juice

human say: coffee

dark cave potion that make morning compiler error hurt little less.

"grug need black think juice before read stack trace."

tools

club

human say: frustration or a useful tool

thing grug reach for when API ask twelve type parameter. wise grug count two and stay calm.

"grug put club down. maybe read docs first."

creatures

complexity demon spirit

human say: complexity, tech debt, sprawl

invisible apex predator of code cave. enter through every clever layer and unnecessary feature.

"grug not see demon, but grug feel demon in service factory factory."

code wisdom

cut point

human say: clean module boundary

place code naturally split after grug understand problem. good cut point emerge. bad cut point invented early.

"wait. water settle. cut point show itself."

cave life

dinosaur meat

human say: food and practical needs

reason grug sometimes ship good-enough code and collect shiney rock. young grugs need dinner.

"perfect rewrite take year. no dinosaur meat until then."

feelings

FOLD

human say: Fear Of Looking Dumb

fear that feed complexity demon. senior grug defeat it by saying 'this too complex for grug' out loud.

"grug ask simple question. FOLD lose power."

code wisdom

gronky

human say: ugly, messy, but real

code or world not elegant. may still work. grug inspect before wave club and smash.

"payment code gronky, but pay tribe every week."

tools

handy club

human say: a useful practical tactic

small tool that solve real problem without summon new demon. debugger often best handy club.

"request ID in log very handy club."

tools

hit dot

human say: IDE autocomplete

most useful gift from type system. grug hit dot, see what grug can do, keep moving.

"if type make hit dot useless, type maybe too big brain."

cave life

many long year

human say: hard-won experience

time grug spend making every mistake, sometimes twice, until simple thing finally look beautiful.

"grug program many long year. grug still confused."

code wisdom

no

human say: the strongest complexity control

magic word stop feature, layer, meeting, and demon before they enter cave. bad career advice. good code advice.

"no, grug not add event bus for contact form."

code wisdom

no silver club

human say: no universal solution

one tool never solve every problem. anyone promise this probably shaman selling seminar.

"new framework help some. no silver club."

creatures

project manager

human say: overworked keeper of deadlines

butterfly-minded tribe member with many want. grug quietly find 80/20 and show working thing.

"project manager ask for moon. grug bring useful rock first."

tools

prototype

human say: working demo

small real thing that make fog go away and herd big brains toward same cave opening.

"talk cheap. prototype make everyone point at same bug."

feelings

reach for club

human say: urge to rage or rewrite

natural feeling when old system surprise grug. mature grug count two, read history, then make tiny change.

"grug reach for club. grug remember Chesterton fence."

creatures

shaman

human say: dogmatic methodology expert

heart often in right place. sell one true way to test, agile, type, or architecture. grug remain wary.

"shaman say 100% coverage. grug ask what user need."

cave life

shiney rock

human say: money, salary, profit, reward

misspelled treasure exchanged for grug time. useful for cave, dinosaur meat, and black think juice.

"grug make software, tribe give shiney rock."

feelings

sour face

human say: skeptical disapproval

face grug make when brochure site arrive with SPA, GraphQL, three service, and distributed cache.

"another abstraction? grug make sour face."

creatures

t-rex

human say: obvious, honest danger

large danger grug can see. grug prefer fight t-rex over invisible complexity demon any day.

"t-rex have teeth. enterprise service bus have documentation."

code wisdom

trap demon in crystal

human say: encapsulate complexity well

put hard necessary thing behind small stable cut point so rest of cave stay calm.

"payment rules ugly. trap demon in crystal with one clear API."

cave life

tribe

human say: team, organization, company

many grugs trying ship same thing while calendar fill with meeting. trust and plain words help tribe.

"good log save whole tribe many long night."

code wisdom

80/20 solution

human say: pragmatic partial solution

80 percent of want with 20 percent of code. not perfect. work now. keep demon hungry.

"grug ship 80/20. user happy. cave quiet."

creatures

young grug

human say: junior developer

new tribe member learning cave. need debugger, kind senior grug, and room to ask simple question.

"young grug break build. old grug help, not mock."

old scratches on cave wall

grug wisdom

say no

best club against complexity demon is magic word "no".

build 80/20

80 want with 20 code. little ugly, but work and ship.

factor late

wait for cut point show itself. water need settle first.

stay near shore

move code small piece. system always work. grug always get home.

nobody impostor if everybody impostor. is fine.