Engineering Principles

1. Never use the word “everything.”
   → Be specific. Don’t say “everything” when you can be more precise.

2. Handle the mess.
   → Don’t ignore messy problems—solve them.

3. Let different things be different.
   → Don’t force unrelated things to be the same.

4. Always use UUIDs.
   → Use unique IDs for each item.

5. Look at things.
   → Always check the actual data or system instead of guessing.

6. Never name something “end.”
   → Be precise: use “endExclusive” or “endInclusive” to show if the end is included or not.

7. Make dangerous code obvious.
   → If a function is risky, name it _DANGEROUS_DANGEROUS_DANGEROUS_BECAUSE_XYZ.
   → If changing code can break things, add // DANGEROUS DANGEROUS DANGEROUS IF YOU CHANGE THIS THEN XYZ WILL HAPPEN on every line.

8. Use the best tools.
   → Ask an experienced engineer what tool they recommend.
   → If they’re not available, ask AI—it’s not perfect but helpful.
   → If no good tool exists, build one.

9. Automate repetitive tasks.
   → If you do the same thing more than 3 times, find a way to automate it.