Add rule 2: comment only what the code cannot say itself;
self-explanatory pseudocode needs none. Put any comment on its
own line above the code; reserve trailing end-of-line comments
for the briefest notes (a bare marker, one or two words), since a
column of trailing prose scans worse than a short note above.
Rework rule 4 (markers) so the bare marker rides trailing while
any explanation it needs moves to an own line. Renumber the rule
list (now 1-10) and fix the mechanics->reduce cross-reference.
Iron Law, worked example, frontmatter, and README updated to
match; the example now demonstrates the sparse-comment style.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Remove the hard one-screen length limit entirely; replace the
former cap (rule 9) with a single-altitude guidance that leans
on the reference markers to let the user steer the zoom instead
of a fixed length.
Loosen the prose ban: prose is now allowed, but only in a
supporting role — the pseudocode block stays the centre of every
answer and prose explains what the code cannot show on its own.
Iron Law, overview, rule 1, worked example, frontmatter, and
README updated to match.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add rule 7: alongside the control flow, sketch the layout of the
data structures the code in focus reads or builds — record
fields, collection nesting, variant cases relevant to the
question — placed beside the code that touches them and reduced
in the same spirit (only the fields on the topic path). When the
data layout is the question, it leads and the flow becomes the
stub. Iron Law, worked example, frontmatter, and README updated
to match.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A user-invoked conversational skill: while active, every reply
explains code in commented, human-readable pseudocode instead of
prose. Each answer opens with a source-file-and-approximate-line
anchor, tags notable steps with reference markers ([1], [A]) the
user can point back at, reduces off-topic paths to stubs, omits
low-level mechanics unless asked, defaults to the project main
entry, and never runs longer than one screen.
Dispatches no agents and runs no pipeline; documented in the
README as a conversational skill standing outside the pipeline.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Brummel