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ZacharyZhang-NY e74dafcd36 Silence render-disposed spam, unbreak bundled skills, drop board wake
Three independently ugly bugs that all fed the same log flood:

* Electron's `WebFrameMain.send` writes every "Render frame was disposed"
  to stderr via `console.error`. When the worker fans a second
  agent-event past a reloading renderer, we produced thousands of
  identical lines and stalled the main loop on stderr I/O. Added a
  `mainFrame.detached` guard so the send is short-circuited before
  Electron's own catch block fires, and installed a targeted filter in
  `suppress-warnings.ts` (now actually imported from the entry point)
  so the specific `console.error("Error sending from webFrameMain:"…)`
  noise never reaches the terminal. Any other payload still surfaces.

* `dispatchAgentMessage` accepted the human-reader sentinel as a wake
  target when an agent replied to `__board__` — `wakeAgentIfPossible`
  then called `db.getAgent("__board__")`, threw, and the dispatcher
  kept repeating on every send. Strip `HUMAN_SENDER_ID` at
  `resolveMessageWakeTargets`, and keep a defense-in-depth guard in the
  heartbeat so a stray caller (future automation fan-out) cannot
  reintroduce the crash.

* Pi's skills loader rejects any SKILL.md whose frontmatter `name`
  diverges from its parent directory. The four bundled `my-writing-style`
  copies declared `name: writing-style-skill`, so every install emitted
  a warning and dropped the skill. They also lived as orphan gitlinks
  (mode 160000 without .gitmodules), and the global `*.md` gitignore
  hid every other SKILL.md from version control. Fixed the frontmatter
  to match the dir, converted the dangling submodules to plain trees,
  and allowlisted `builtin-skills/**/*.md` so a fresh clone carries the
  catalogue instead of silently losing it.
2026-04-20 08:13:48 -04:00

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---
title: Minimize Function Arguments
impact: HIGH
impactDescription: reduces cognitive load and testing complexity
tags: func, arguments, parameters, simplicity
---
## Minimize Function Arguments
The ideal number of arguments for a function is zero (niladic). Next comes one (monadic), followed closely by two (dyadic). Three arguments (triadic) should be avoided where possible.
**Incorrect (too many arguments):**
```java
// Flag arguments are bad - function does different things
public void render(boolean isSuite) {}
// Four arguments - hard to remember order
public Circle makeCircle(double x, double y, double radius, String color) {}
// Order matters and is easy to confuse
public void assertExpectedEqualsActual(String expected, String actual) {}
```
**Correct (minimized arguments):**
```java
// Separate functions instead of flag
public void renderForSingleTest() {}
public void renderForSuite() {}
// Encapsulate related arguments in objects
public Circle makeCircle(Point center, double radius, Color color) {}
// Even better - use a builder for many optional params
Circle circle = Circle.builder()
.center(new Point(0, 0))
.radius(5.0)
.color(Color.RED)
.build();
// Self-documenting method name
assertThat(actual).isEqualTo(expected);
```
**Why fewer arguments?**
- Easier to understand
- Easier to test (fewer combinations)
- Less chance of argument order errors
**Acceptable monadic forms:**
- Asking a question: `boolean fileExists(String path)`
- Transforming input: `InputStream openFile(String path)`
- Events: `void passwordAttemptFailed(int attempts)`
Reference: [Clean Code, Chapter 3: Functions](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/clean-code-a/9780136083238/)