Awesome Falsehood is a curated list that documents common false beliefs programmers hold about real-world domains and systems.
The project addresses a practical problem: programmers often make incorrect assumptions about how things work—email addresses, names, dates, phone numbers, postal addresses, currencies, and many other domains—and these assumptions lead to bugs and failed implementations. The approach is to collect and organize articles and resources that expose these falsehoods, explaining what programmers wrongly believe and what the reality actually is. By reading through these documented misconceptions, developers can learn to question their assumptions and build more robust systems that handle edge cases correctly.
Someone considering this resource should know it serves as a reference guide rather than a tutorial or library. It works best for developers who want to understand common pitfalls before implementing features that touch on internationalization, data validation, or any system dealing with real-world complexity. The list covers domains including dates and time, emails, geography, human identity, phone numbers, postal addresses, typography, and video games. It is organized by category to help developers quickly find falsehoods relevant to their current work. The project includes translations, making it accessible to developers in different languages.
The project maintains an active collection of falsehoods across multiple domains, regularly incorporating new articles and resources that expose programmer misconceptions. The curation spans established categories while remaining open to emerging areas where false beliefs commonly arise.
