My world has been turned inside down by the plugin paradigm (call it what you like). I'm a minimalistic developer, prefering DIY sollutions to common problems (like reporting) and avoiding out-of-the-box-auto-magic-quick-fix monsters I can't control. I know people who could argue with me about these things all day - but the way I(and many others) see it, it's an art - not a job or a science or anything governed by rules.
I'm 2 months into a 6 month project - typical business desktop software(financial risk analysis, if it makes a difference). The project entails replacing an existing system(which I implemented about 3 years ago) with a new shiny one with better this and that, more of that and a few big new features. The company's software grew a web front-end (somebody else did that), and naturally a substantial amount of functionality, and more tragic, code was duplicated. The user's requirements quickly grew beyond that which two relatively seperate systems could muster and the suits agreed that it was time to let the nerds out of the cage...
Another bug that bit me is the idea of Service Orientated Architectures. Throw in a thorough study of .NET Remoting and you end up with a Windows service hosting plugins that provide services via remote interfaces to any .NET front-end you please, over a TCP/IP network - what more could you ask for? [yeah,yeah...i know]
1 comment:
Being a "minimalistic" developer, you'll appreciate the simplicity of plug-ins. It's analogous to object orientated design. Things / objects need to think for themselves. Aka plug-in. Each independant of the other, capable of working together in unison to provide something of value. Each taking care of it's own responsibilities. It's by no means a mircale fix, rather it's an extension of the "art" you were talking about. You know you have to go down this route... it's not an option, it's the journey each developer has to take to reach the pragmatic station at the end.
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