Nick writes: “And like any modular system (DNA comes to mind), modularity is a great spur to creativity, leaving programmers free to work on better modules knowing that as long as the version of the “object“ they design (which, say, can work in a greater variety of heat conditions or uses less power, etc.) is the “same” box, then their work is a contribution to the whole.”
In the real world of software, there are many frozen accidents. The genesis of an initial building block leads to another being designed in a certain way, which brings with another set of idiosyncrasies, and so on. After decades of this people start to believe that things must – in principle and in practice -- be a certain way. Software layering can be an obstacle to innovation once basic assumptions are called into question; it is easy to get stuck in local fitness maxima and a particular foundation. Marcus From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of Nick Thompson <nickthomp...@earthlink.net> Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at 9:53 AM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] What is an object? And like any modular system (DNA comes to mind), modularity is a great spur to creativity, leaving programmers free to work on better modules knowing that as long as the version of the “object“ they design (which, say, can work in a greater variety of heat conditions or uses less power, etc.) is the “same” box, then their work is a contribution to the whole.
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