What is the difference between tactical and strategic programming?

Tactical programming focuses on getting a feature working quickly, often adding small complexities. Strategic programming involves investing 10-20% of time into a great design that makes future development faster.

How does the System Design skill improve my code quality?

It provides a framework for reducing complexity by encouraging 'deep modules,' where complex logic is hidden behind simple interfaces, making the overall system easier to understand and maintain.

Does this skill support CLI and tool design?

Absolutely. It applies specific principles for CLIs, such as progressive disclosure, sensible defaults, and deep commands to ensure tools are powerful yet easy to use.

Can this skill help with existing technical debt?

Yes, it identifies 'red flags' such as information leakage, temporal decomposition, and pass-through methods, providing actionable strategies to refactor these into better abstractions.

System Design Principles

Name: System Design Principles
Author: joelhooks

byjoelhooks

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359

API Development

Implements modularity and complexity management principles based on Ousterhout's philosophy to create maintainable, reusable software architectures.

About

The System Design skill equips Claude with a rigorous framework for architectural decision-making based on 'A Philosophy of Software Design.' It focuses on 'deep modules'—components with simple interfaces that hide significant implementation complexity—to reduce cognitive load and prevent technical debt. By applying principles like information hiding, error elimination, and strategic programming, this skill helps developers build libraries, APIs, and tools that remain scalable and easy to modify as they grow. It is particularly useful when designing core system components where maintainability and reuse are critical priorities.

Key Features

Methods to define errors out of existence by simplifying internal semantics.
Comparative design analysis through the 'Design Twice' principle to explore architectural alternatives.
Detection and resolution of architectural 'red flags' like information leakage and shallow modules.
359 GitHub stars
Guidance for creating 'deep' modules with high functionality and minimal interfaces.
Strategies for 'strategic programming' to prioritize long-term system health over tactical fixes.

Use Cases

Establishing architectural standards for a team to ensure consistent and maintainable code patterns.
Designing a new public-facing API or library that requires a clean, intuitive interface.
Refactoring a monolithic or tightly coupled codebase into manageable, isolated modules.

About

Key Features

Methods to define errors out of existence by simplifying internal semantics.
Comparative design analysis through the 'Design Twice' principle to explore architectural alternatives.
Detection and resolution of architectural 'red flags' like information leakage and shallow modules.
359 GitHub stars
Guidance for creating 'deep' modules with high functionality and minimal interfaces.
Strategies for 'strategic programming' to prioritize long-term system health over tactical fixes.

Use Cases

Establishing architectural standards for a team to ensure consistent and maintainable code patterns.
Designing a new public-facing API or library that requires a clean, intuitive interface.
Refactoring a monolithic or tightly coupled codebase into manageable, isolated modules.