Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M0002

Wirth's Law

Wirth's Law
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Wirth's law is an adage on computer performance which states that software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware is becoming faster. The adage is named after Niklaus Wirth, a computer scientist who discussed it in his 1995 article "A Plea for Lean Software".

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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Reduce cognitive load

Wirth's law is an adage on computer performance which states that software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware is becoming faster.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Software's consumption of resources grows faster than hardware performance improvements, causing users to perceive it as "getting slower." It reveals that efficiency gains are eaten up by software bloat (feature stacking, abstraction layers, lazy optimization), and is a manifestation of Jevons paradox in software.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirth%27s_lawZH · Explicit
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