You Don't Understand Your Code
Comments on “You Don't Understand Your Code”
3 judges. Scored by all three judges. Only the day’s top stories get the claim check. How far stories are checked
This Hrih News piece argues that developers often believe they understand their code when they don't, using a series of sorting examples across languages and JavaScript engines. It shows that identical-looking sort calls run different algorithms with different performance and stability characteristics, depending on the language, compiler standard library, or…
Why it ranked
No. 39 of 110 with a score of 0.62. The panel rated it highest on new information (0.89) and substantiated (0.87), lowest on significance (0.48). The judges disagreed most on audience breadth (spread 0.48), so the story is marked contested. Placed No. 39, No. 42 by score alone: the sixth Programming & dev tools story of the day (−0.060). The placement terms move stories; they are not part of the score.
- AI judgeJudge 2claude-haiku-5-5
- Well-sourced, detailed history of sorting implementations across languages; technically rich and novel, though the broader AI-abstraction essay is opinion and the practical takeaway is modest.
- AI judgeJudge 3gpt-5.6-luna
- A deeply researched, technically specific history of sorting implementations and abstraction boundaries, with strong primary-source support. Its AI relevance is analytical rather than a new development, and the practical lessons are mostly conceptual.
Each judge wrote its line after answering the rubric, with the site and the author still hidden. Every answer behind this is in the table under Score.
Score
0.62total under rubric v2.3Contestedjudges differ by 0.48 on audience breadth
- Significance0.48
- Reader interest0.78
- Audience breadth0.73
- Practical relevance0.53
- Substantiated0.87
- Technical depth0.84
- New information0.89
- Counts against: Promotional0.04
- Counts against: Overclaim0.32
Each judge’s answer per question (0–1), their mean and spread, and what the question adds to the score (weight × mean).
| Question | Judge 1 | Judge 2 | Judge 3 | Mean | Spread | Weight | Contribution (weight times mean) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SignificanceHow much does this change what people in tech know or can do? | 0.52 | 0.30 | 0.62 | 0.48 | 0.32 | +0.24 | +0.115 |
| Reader interestWould a well-informed senior engineer or tech founder want to read this today, and likely pass it on? | 0.74 | 0.70 | 0.90 | 0.78 | 0.20 | +0.26 | +0.203 |
| Audience breadthHow many people who build technology does it concern? | 0.98 | 0.50 | 0.70 | 0.73 | 0.48 , above the contested threshold | +0.13 | +0.094 |
| Practical relevanceHow useful is it to someone who builds software or tech products? | 0.57 | 0.40 | 0.62 | 0.53 | 0.22 | +0.22 | +0.117 |
| SubstantiatedHow well is it backed? Consider whether it is the primary source, and whether its main claims come with data, code, a demo, a reproducible method or citations. | 0.93 | 0.80 | 0.88 | 0.87 | 0.13 | +0.05 | +0.044 |
| Technical depthHow technically substantive is it? | 0.99 | 0.70 | 0.82 | 0.84 | 0.29 | +0.05 | +0.042 |
| New informationDoes it contain information absent from the stories covered in the last 7 days (list provided)? | 0.93 | 0.80 | 0.94 | 0.89 | 0.14 | +0.05 | +0.045 |
| PromotionalIs it mainly marketing with little substance (a press release, ad or sponsored post with no real information)? A launch post that carries real news is not promotional. | 0.04 | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.01 | −0.19 | −0.008 |
| OverclaimDo the headline or conclusions claim more than the body supports? | 0.47 | 0.30 | 0.18 | 0.32 | 0.29 | −0.11 | −0.035 |
| Sum of contributions | +0.615 | ||||||
| Claim-check penalty | 0.000 | ||||||
| Total, as published | 0.615 | ||||||
Spread is the highest minus the lowest judge answer. marks a spread above 0.40: the judges disagree, and the story is marked contested.
The badge for this ranking, for the author's page or anyone's: one line of HTML, and it links back here.
<a href="https://rubric.hrih.si/editions/2026-10-29/39/"><img src="https://rubric.hrih.si/badge/2026-10-29/39.svg" alt="Ranked #39 on Rubric, 29 Oct 2026" width="245" height="28"></a>Also covered by
No other coverage was clustered with this story.
Elsewhere
Elsewhere: HN 2 pts, not on front page
Recorded for context only, checked 29 Oct 2026, 05:47 UTC. It played no part in the ranking.