It has been a question that pops up every time (at-least I) write code. 'How generic should this be?' By Generic, I mean the power to (re)use the same piece of code, without changing anything 'inside' the code and only changing a configuration file (xml or whatever is the implementation choice).
More often than not I end up just trying to write a code so generic, that the purpose it was primarily built for (whatever application) is complicated. Correct, everything now is in the conf file, but at the same time writing the conf file in itself is a task wherein the only kind of people who would want to write that conf instead of rewriting an application specific code would be those who are 'programming challenged'.
I've realized, perhaps if only a few questions are answered prior to writing the so generic code, the developer/designer would be at such a level of ease.
* Who asked for it?
* Would someone else ever use it? Really? Or is it just a mere assumption that someday the world would run on it?
* Assuming that the world might run on it someday, do I need to write code for all of that right now? Can I just write what I want, optimize it for what is required at the moment and a little more and then just let it be? On the lines of the early ages of internet [Design it now, and let it get corrected as it goes on, with the future users correcting it themselves]
There are a lot of other questions which should be answered before the attempt to write 'the universal machine' is made. All attempts to write code are generally towards writing a universal machine which would do all we can think of, all we can imagine, and all that the machine would be able to imagine years from now on! :)
Lets write for 'now' and write it well designed.
Let them extend it rather than configure it....
More often than not I end up just trying to write a code so generic, that the purpose it was primarily built for (whatever application) is complicated. Correct, everything now is in the conf file, but at the same time writing the conf file in itself is a task wherein the only kind of people who would want to write that conf instead of rewriting an application specific code would be those who are 'programming challenged'.
I've realized, perhaps if only a few questions are answered prior to writing the so generic code, the developer/designer would be at such a level of ease.
* Who asked for it?
* Would someone else ever use it? Really? Or is it just a mere assumption that someday the world would run on it?
* Assuming that the world might run on it someday, do I need to write code for all of that right now? Can I just write what I want, optimize it for what is required at the moment and a little more and then just let it be? On the lines of the early ages of internet [Design it now, and let it get corrected as it goes on, with the future users correcting it themselves]
There are a lot of other questions which should be answered before the attempt to write 'the universal machine' is made. All attempts to write code are generally towards writing a universal machine which would do all we can think of, all we can imagine, and all that the machine would be able to imagine years from now on! :)
Lets write for 'now' and write it well designed.
Let them extend it rather than configure it....
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