Re:Laws, theories, principles and patterns that developers m...
by jfoutz on Monday November 04, 2019 @12:52PM
(#21444245)
This is real handwavy and potentially wrong, but maybe helpful.
Closed is the thing you're _enforcing_. You have to pay your taxes. Open is the policy that you don't care much about. Cash, check, money order. Maybe others get tacked on later.
I know it doesn't sound like much, and it's really a pretty weak tool compared to stuff like contracts.
The best example i can dredge up is gui components. I don't care _what_ you draw. I do care that you stick to the small area of the screen set aside for you. The base component _enforces_ no coloring outside the lines. Inside the lines, you can be a textbox, or a button, or a whatever.
Closed is the thing you're _enforcing_. You have to pay your taxes. Open is the policy that you don't care much about. Cash, check, money order. Maybe others get tacked on later.
I know it doesn't sound like much, and it's really a pretty weak tool compared to stuff like contracts.
The best example i can dredge up is gui components. I don't care _what_ you draw. I do care that you stick to the small area of the screen set aside for you. The base component _enforces_ no coloring outside the lines. Inside the lines, you can be a textbox, or a button, or a whatever.