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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 exis
by wcrichton 2y ago
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 2y agoMaybe in your field the definition of cognitive load has a very specific, academic meaning. This article wasn’t meant for you.
- wcrichton 2y agoMy 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.