A law earns its place by clarifying how a pattern is produced, not only by naming it.
DOMAIN 0614 PUBLISHED GUIDES
Technology & Computation
Laws governing computing progress, software systems, information, algorithms, and digital platforms.
CENTRAL QUESTION
How do engineered information systems scale?
- Working scale
- Transistors to platforms
- Primary lens
- Engineering data + systems analysis
14Published
04Defined subfields
FULLSource standard
ENEditorial language
SUBCATEGORY MAP
The field at a glance.
Each subfield has a distinct object of study. Published areas are active now; planned areas show how the collection will grow.
01
Computing
PublishedHardware capability, performance, energy, and economic scaling.
02
Software Engineering
PublishedComplexity, maintenance, defects, teams, and delivery.
03
Information Theory
PublishedSignals, coding, compression, noise, and channel limits.
04
Platforms
PublishedNetwork effects, ecosystems, governance, and digital markets.
PUBLISHED GUIDES
In Technology & Computation
Every guide includes meaning, mechanism, applications, limitations, related concepts, and traceable references.
Computing002
Technological trend
Moore's Law
The economically practical complexity of integrated circuits grew exponentially for decades, reshaping computing and the industries built on it.
Platforms011
Network-value scaling heuristic
Metcalfe's Law
Potential connections, network effects, compatibility, participation, congestion, and the limits of n-squared reasoning.
Software Engineering015
Software project coordination heuristic
Brooks's Law
Why late staffing can add onboarding, communication, and integration work faster than productive capacity.
Computing020
Parallel computing limit model
Amdahl's Law
The total speedup from parallel hardware is capped by the fraction of work that remains serial.
Software Engineering021
Organizational design heuristic
Conway's Law
The communication paths of the organization designing a system tend to reappear as boundaries and interfaces inside that system.
Platforms027
Distributed systems impossibility result
CAP Theorem
During a network partition, a replicated system cannot guarantee both linearizable consistency and a successful response from every non-failing node.
Information Theory029
Noisy-channel capacity theorem
Shannon-Hartley Theorem
A band-limited Gaussian channel has a finite information capacity set by bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio, with only logarithmic returns from added signal power.
Computing054
Scaled-workload parallel speedup model
Gustafson's Law
If a larger machine is used to solve a proportionally larger problem in roughly the same elapsed time, useful scaled speedup can grow almost linearly despite a nonparallel fraction.
Platforms071
Protocol robustness principle
Postel's Law
Protocol implementations were advised to send strictly conforming output while accepting a wider range of input, improving early interoperability but also creating ambiguity, ossification, and security risks.
Information Theory072
Cryptographic design principle
Kerckhoffs's Principle
A cryptosystem should remain secure even when everything about the system except the secret key is public knowledge.
Software Engineering092
Software-performance aphorism
Wirth's Law
Software can become slower and more resource-hungry faster than hardware becomes faster, erasing gains users expected from improved machines.
Platforms093
Network architecture principle
End-to-End Principle
Functions that require application-level correctness often cannot be completely implemented inside the network and must be checked at the communicating endpoints.
Computing094
Optimization theorem family
No Free Lunch Theorem
Averaged uniformly over all possible objective functions, any two non-revisiting optimization algorithms have identical performance.
Software Engineering095
Open-source review heuristic
Linus's Law
Given enough appropriately motivated and capable reviewers, many defects become easier to identify and characterize--but visibility alone does not supply review.
CROSS-DOMAIN LINKS
No field stands alone.
These connections show where the domain borrows methods, mechanisms, or evidence from the rest of the library.
Scientific status, operating range, evidence quality, and common misuse stay visible.
Original publications, official records, and serious scholarship take priority.