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software

Zero one infinity rule

  • Rule of thumb proposed by Willem van der Poel
  • Argues that arbitrary limits on instances of data or structure should not be allowed
  • We should only allow
    • 0
    • 1
    • Infinity
  • Software should not put arbitrary limits on an entity

Example

Using file systems, how does this apply?

  • 0
    • Topmost directory has zero parent directories
  • 1
    • Each subdirectory has exactly one parent
  • Infinity
    • Each directory can contain ~infinite files or subdirectories
    • Limitations may be defined by things like storage space but not by software