If you work in software development trends come and go, and we are constantly inundated with new frameworks to learn. Whenever someone says to me “what do you think of this” I almost feel like they are saying if you can’t come up with something really negative we are going to throw it in - but because I like to keep things simple I usually go through this list in my head:
- Does it make it more complex than it needs to be?
- Does it really add any value beyond allowing me to +1 the font size on the “A” on my “Architect” t-shirt?
- Who is going to support it?
- Will it impact performance?
- Does it solve a problem that actually exists?
- Could I solve that problem easier with 10 lines of C# code?
… the list goes on. Essentially I fear complexity for the sake of it, software has so many inherent complexities that you can’t avoid that adding more just seems insane.
Now what one person calls complex, and what another calls a simplification really where the debate happens …
[...] isn’t. This is me wanting to take Enterprise Library as an example and trying to answer Mitch’s questions in a very very objective [...]
I tend to lean on your side of this debate. I am always cautious when looking at additional frameworks since they are an additional form of dependency for a project.
I guess I have been burnt a couple of times, investing on top of frameworks where the original developers/owners have then suddenly and without too much warning decided to change direction or simply drop support and development.
If a small project specific framework or class library can be knocked together, sometimes it’s worth taking the up front hit (and reinvent the wheel), if only to shelter you from these sorts of things.
Atleast that’s my view.