Ross ROSS = Recommend OSS · open-source software intelligence for agents

zakirullin/cognitive-load resource

🧠 Cognitive load is what matters observed · 2026-08-28

github.com/zakirullin/cognitive-load · CC-BY-4.0 (other) observed · 2026-08-28

Health v2 · maintenance only

60/100

  • Activity 90
  • Release rhythm 8
  • Longevity 85
How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-02. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

  • gap_med: n/a
  • age_days: 1202
  • days_rel: 662
  • days_push: 65
  • n_releases_24m: 1

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

12490 stars · 300 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

A widely-read living document arguing that cognitive load is the fundamental metric for evaluating software design practices. It explains intrinsic vs. extraneous cognitive load and critiques overengineered architectures and trendy abstractions.

Use cases

  • learn how to reduce cognitive load in codebases
  • understand why clever abstractions hurt readability
  • evaluate whether a design practice is actually useful
  • guidance for reviewing LLM-generated code
  • principles for writing maintainable software
  • onboarding material for developers on code readability

When to choose

  • you want a concise, opinionated guide to code simplicity
  • you're deciding between 'smart' architecture and plain readable code
  • you're training developers or writing engineering guidelines

When to avoid

  • you need a tool or library rather than an essay
  • you want rigorous academic treatment of cognitive load theory
  • you need language-specific coding standards

Facets

learning-resource · maturity active

developer-tools documentation developer-tools tutorials cross-platform cognitive-load software-design best-practices code-readability living-document

1 source

Member repositories

RepositoryRoleHealth v2
zakirullin/cognitive-loadmain60

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="zakirullin/cognitive-load")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem