DesignAphorism

Two Hard Things

Keeping cached data correct and giving things good names are deceptively hard problems.

A plain-language paraphrase. Original sources below.

The idea behind it

This aphorism is attributed to Phil Karlton. Cache invalidation asks when a saved answer stops being true. Naming asks which concept a piece of software actually represents. Both become harder as a system evolves, because assumptions that once seemed obvious no longer hold.

Go to the source

Two Hard Things — Martin Fowler

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Phil Karltoncache invalidationnaming things