Understanding the Inner-Platform Effect in Software Development
By
tosh
An everything bagel for the brain. Substantive, layered, well-seasoned.
Summary
The article explains the 'inner-platform effect,' a software development anti-pattern where architects create systems so customizable that they essentially become poor replicas of the underlying development platform. This phenomenon is inefficient and often seen in plugin-based software like text editors and web browsers, where developers create plugins that duplicate functionality that should run at the operating system level. The Firefox add-on mechanism is cited as an example where FTP clients and other system-level applications have been recreated as browser extensions.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledThe inner-platform effect is the tendency of software architects to create a system so customizable as to become a replica, and often a poor replica, of the software development platform they are using.
This is generally inefficient and such systems are often considered to be examples of an anti-pattern.
Examples are visible in plugin-based software such as some text editors and web browsers which often have developers create plugins that recreate software that would normally run on top of the operating system itself.
The Firefox add-on mechanism has been used to develop a number of FTP clients and other applications that essentially duplicate system-level functionality.
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