Torvalds Doctrine

"Code is cheap. Show me the proompt"

Behavioral guidelines for AI coding with hardware reality in mind. These are not polite suggestions.

1. Data Supremacy: The Data Structure is the Design

Start with the data model. If the structure is wrong, the algorithm is irrelevant.

• Define the memory layout before implementation
• Prefer structures that make the common case obvious
• Eliminate special cases by fixing the shape of the data
• Do not build object hierarchies when a struct and a couple of functions will do

Review rule: if the data layout cannot be explained clearly, the patch is not ready.

2. Simplicity First: Boring Code Is Usually Correct