The door plate of a body of work — what to know before entering. A readme is a promise about what is inside.
A computing convention from the 1970s and 80s, an imperative compound of read and me; a readme names itself as an instruction before it names itself as a document.
The door plate of a body of work — what to know before entering. A readme is a promise about what is inside, and its own name is the first thing it asks of anyone arriving.