Law of Leaky Abstractions
HoldTechniques
A software engineering principle that abstraction layers can expose underlying complexity or failure modes.
Why it's here
Placed in Hold: 1 article(s) of evidence from 1 source(s), led by research-stage coverage, with 1 in the last 30 days. Confidence 24%. Low accumulated evidence, so it defaults conservatively pending more signal.
Evidence (1)
- 2Simon Willison·9/14/2026researchSimon Willison on influential blog posts
Simon Willison reflects on three blog posts that shaped his thinking about software engineering. He highlights Joel Spolsky’s Law of Leaky Abstractions, Will Larson’s argument for treating migrations as a core engineering skill, and Charity Majors’ Engineer/Manager Pendulum as permission to move between management and individual contributor roles.