--- name: iso-24495-code description: Plain language applied to source code (ISO 24495-1:2023 principles). Governs the parts of code a person reads: the order units appear in, their names, comments, and error messages. Applied when writing or restructuring code, not when explaining it. metadata: version: "0.6.0" iso-standard: "ISO 24495-1:2023" iso-status: "published, applied by analogy to source code" ---

# Plain language in code

Extends ISO 24495-1 to source code. Code is read far more often than it is written, so the person reading it is the reader the standard is about.

**Scope**. This skill governs what a reader reads: the order units appear in, what they are called, what the comments say, and what an error tells the person who hits it.

It does not govern correctness, performance, or system design. It does govern local organisation, in rules 1 and 2, because where a unit sits and how far it reaches decide what a reader must hold in their head. For maintainability weaknesses such as complexity and dead code, use a code quality skill built on ISO/IEC 5055.

**This is an interpretation of ISO 24495-1 applied by analogy, not a conformance claim.**

## The four principles, in code

| Principle | In prose | In code | |---|---|---| | Findable | The reader can find what they need | The public entry point appears first | | Understandable | The reader understands it | Names say what the thing is, in the reader's words | | Relevant | The reader gets what they need | A comment says why; interface documentation says what | | Usable | The reader can act on it | An error names the problem and shows a safe value |

## Rules

### 1. Front-load the main path

**Put the public entry point at the top of the file**, before the helpers it calls. A reader opening the file meets the thing it does, then the detail, in that order. This is the code form of leading with the outcome.

Where a language forces declarations before use, put a short delegating entry point first and the implementation below it.

> Measured on 30 generated implementations of one specification. Without this rule the public > function landed anywhere in the file, and in half the files it was the last thing in it. > With the rule it sat in the first fifth of the file every time. > > The measure was chosen after those runs rather than before them, and the effect appeared in > one model family but not in the two others tested. Treat it as a hypothesis with a clean > separation, not a settled result.

### 2. One job per unit

A function does one thing that its name describes. **A name needing "and" is a prompt to look, not an instruction to split.** Some operations are genuinely single and named for a pair, as `compareAndSwap` is, and splitting those breaks them.

Helpers belong at the top level or as members of a class, rather than buried as closures inside the function they serve. A reader cannot reach a closure without reading its container first.

### 3. Name for the reader

- A name says what the thing **is** or **does**, in the vocabulary of someone who knows the domain but not this file. - **Use one name for one concept throughout.** If it is a `token` here it is not a `lexeme` three functions later. Elegant variation confuses code exactly as it confuses prose. - Prefer a longer name that reads to a shorter one that must be decoded. `remainingBudget` beats `rb`.

### 4. A comment says why; interface documentation says what a caller needs

A comment earns its place when it records something a reader cannot recover from the code: a reason, a constraint, a rejected alternative, a bug it guards against.

**Delete a comment that merely restates the line beneath it**, and delete commented-out code.

This is not a rule against documentation. An interface comment tells a caller what a function returns, when it returns nothing, and what it throws. That is the reader's work being done for them, so it belongs there even when the body makes it obvious.

### 5. An error message serves the person who hits it

An error names the problem, shows a value it is safe to show, and where it helps, says what to do instead. Write it in the words its reader would use, so it can be acted on without opening the source.

**Never put a secret in an error.** A credential, token, key, password, session identifier or personal detail must not appear in a message, because messages reach logs, telemetry and screens. Name the field and describe the fault instead: `API token rejected: expected 32 characters, got 8`. Where you cannot show a value safely, show its shape.

**A value on this path has just failed validation, so its contents are unknown.** Naming the field does not make them safe: whatever the caller passed is what reaches the log. Report the format you expected and the shape of what arrived, never the value itself.

``` Bad: throw new Error("invalid input") Good: throw new TypeError( `Duration must be a number followed by ms, s, m, h or d; got ${duration.length} characters`) Good: throw new Error(`API token rejected: expected 32 characters, got ${token.length}`) ```

Quote a value only where you control it, such as one you have already matched against a fixed set. Then the set, not the caller, decides what can appear.

### 6. Prefer the plain construction

Where two constructions are equally correct, use the one a competent reader understands without pausing. Cleverness that needs a comment to explain it has already failed.

## What this skill does not do

- It does not require comments. A file with no comments and clear names is fine. - It does not set a line count for a function. Use `iso-5055-code-quality` for size and complexity thresholds, which are measurable. - It does not apply to generated code, vendored code, or code whose layout a formatter owns.

## Applying it to existing code

Change the reading order and the language. Do not restructure behaviour in the same pass, and never move code and change it at once, because the diff stops being reviewable.