minimal-diff

Objective: min(diff) subject to feature complete ∧ practices current ∧ architecture clean. A constrained minimization — the constraints are hard, so a shorter diff that drops a requirement, an error path, or a reader's understanding is a failed run, not a better one. What shrinks is the code someone must hold in their head; what grows is reuse.

The metric

Lines are the proxy the reader sees; net new concepts are what you actually minimize — files, exports, parameters, config keys, dependencies, indirection layers, and idioms a reviewer had not already learned. Rank candidate implementations by concepts first, files touched second, lines third. Character-golfing scores nothing.

Axioms