Engineering Lore

A digital garden of connected laws, principles, heuristics and mental models for engineering.

The app is a three-column reader. Concepts are Markdown files in src/data/catalog/collection/. There is no CMS.

Preview locally

Node.js >=22.

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/ after npm run dev. Saving a concept, domains.json, or types.json rebuilds the catalog while the server is running.

A concept is /all/<slug>, for example Amdahl's Law.

npm run build

writes a static bundle to dist/.

Contribute

This is an open source project. Issues and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md. If you ask to be listed, your name will appear on Credits.

Catalog

Grouped by domain. Each title links to /all/<slug> on www.engineering-lore.fyi.

APIs

• HYRUM'S LAW · observation
• POSTEL'S LAW · principle
• SEMANTIC VERSIONING · principle

Architecture

• CONWAY'S LAW · observation
• GALL'S LAW · observation
• INVERSE CONWAY MANEUVER · heuristic
• KISS · principle
• LAW OF LEAKY ABSTRACTIONS · observation
• YAGNI · heuristic

Complexity

• GALL'S LAW · observation
• KISS · principle
• LAW OF LEAKY ABSTRACTIONS · observation
• TESLER'S LAW · observation
• YAGNI · heuristic

Data

• CAP THEOREM · theorem
• PACELC · mental-model

Decision Making

• CAMPBELL'S LAW · observation
• GOODHART'S LAW · observation

Distributed Systems

• CAP THEOREM · theorem
• FALLACIES OF DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING · fallacy
• PACELC · mental-model

Networks

• FALLACIES OF DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING · fallacy
• POSTEL'S LAW · principle

Organizations

• BROOKS'S LAW · heuristic
• CAMPBELL'S LAW · observation
• CONWAY'S LAW · observation
• GOODHART'S LAW · observation
• INVERSE CONWAY MANEUVER · heuristic

Performance

• AMDAHL'S LAW · law
• GUSTAFSON'S LAW · law
• LITTLE'S LAW · theorem
• PACELC · mental-model
• UNIVERSAL SCALABILITY LAW · law

Product

• GOODHART'S LAW · observation
• TESLER'S LAW · observation

Project Management

• BROOKS'S LAW · heuristic
• CAMPBELL'S LAW · observation

Reliability

• CAP THEOREM · theorem

Software Engineering

• AMDAHL'S LAW · law
• BROOKS'S LAW · heuristic
• CONWAY'S LAW · observation
• FALLACIES OF DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING · fallacy
• GALL'S LAW · observation
• GUSTAFSON'S LAW · law
• HYRUM'S LAW · observation
• INVERSE CONWAY MANEUVER · heuristic
• KISS · principle
• LAW OF LEAKY ABSTRACTIONS · observation
• LITTLE'S LAW · theorem
• SEMANTIC VERSIONING · principle
• UNIVERSAL SCALABILITY LAW · law
• YAGNI · heuristic

UX

• TESLER'S LAW · observation

License

MIT. See LICENSE.