Magic number 7 full#
Magic number 7 code#
Magic number 7 plus#

In modular programming programs are built up out of small chunks of code in the form of subroutines, function or modules. You will often hear programmers talking about complexity reduction but actually what is going on is complexity hiding - also known in the wider world as 'chunking'. This is the reason why all programming methods endeavour to hide the complexity of a program in a layered structure. What has this got to do with programming?ДЄs a programmer you to are subject to the same information processing limits as any lesser mortal. We have a channel capacity or a data rate limit just like any data bus. Humans are bandwidth limited information processing machines. You can also argue about the limits applying to different cognitive processing but the important point is that there is a limit not its actual value. You can argue about the fine detail and whether or not the number seven deserves its special position.

Magic number 7 plus#

The variation observed in the experiments was such that a more accurate statement of memory capacity is seven items plus or minus two - hence the title of the paper referenced above. (See: The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.)ДЄfter lots of experiments it was found that, on average, humans can manage to keep in their short term memories seven items of information. One of the nicest and simplest results in this area is the 'magic number seven' or Miller's law after the psychologist who discovered it. The exact details aren't particularly important, but what is important is the obvious statement that humans are a limited data channel. There are some theorems relating things like reliability, bandwidth and noise and these are applicable to humans just as much as to networks and radio channels. It studied the channel capacity and the effects of noise on signal processing. The inputs were the senses and the outputs where what ever the human did or perceived as a result of the inputs. The idea was that the human wasn't so much a data processing system but a data communications system. It viewed the human processor as an information channel. One of psychology's early phases (there have been many) was based on information or communications theory. Rather than launch off into another discussion of user interfaces, an admittedly important topic, the time has come to consider something much more simple - overload. Understanding how users work, in the broadest possible sense, is usually called psychology - hence my opening statement. True you have to have the technical skill and equipment to implement your ideas but without an understanding of how users work then your ideas will be mostly rubbish. What would you say was the most important skill at creating user interfaces? The Psychology Of Bandwidth

There are many, but let's start with a very obvious one.

Magic number 7 full#

Why is is magic and what significance does it have for us poor limited humans?ДЄll good programmers need to be part time psychologists, maybe even full time ones. The number seven is very important in programming and many other intellectual endeavors.