2019-08-29
The open source world is full of frameworks and platforms. But what is a framework, what is a platform and what is the difference? More to the point, why is this difference important? I am a confessing pedant. Despite my personal failures in this regard, I believe deeply that correct usage of language provides significant added value. To quote the aphorism from Mark Twain: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” With this in mind, it may make sense that I find the lack of clarity surrounding the two concepts of framework and platform extremely irritating at times. Every company in the world that has anything to do with development has a platform. The open source world is full of frameworks. But when asked, very few people are able to define these concepts. Is it possible to claim full understanding of a subject yet be unable to provide clear definitions for basic terminology?
2020-09-23
Software re-use is something that everyone claims to strive for. But what counts as re-use and how can it be achieved?
The ultimate goal of re-use is to be able to use source code across multiple projects without the need for code changes.
The key question I would like to address is how to get there. What guiding principles must be observed to encourage the development of re-usable software?