> typeof universe
'recursive space turtles'
> universe instanceof RecursiveSpaceTurtles
'who's to say really?'
hi my name is @ag_dubs
npm install
ag_dubs
npm install
a-brief-history
i like to think about thinking
i like to think about thinking
especially the type of thinking that happens when people write code
teaching is nature's way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is
@node_together
how do you decide what goes in a module?
modularity seemed, as both concept and physical reality, similar to time
our picture of the universe
npm is the LARGEST MODULE REPOSITORY IN THE WORLD.
npm is the LARGEST MODULE REPOSITORY IN THE WORLD.
but why?
why so many modules?
require('dijkstra');
The programmer is in the unique position... They have to be able to think in terms of conceptual hierarchies that are much deeper than a single mind ever needed to face before... the automatic computer confronts us with a radically new intellectual challenge that has no precedent in our history.
Edsgar Dijkstra
On the cruelty of really teaching computing science, EWD1036-0.
modularity is a way of addressing this challenge
what is modularity?
Modular programming is a software design technique that emphasizes separating the functionality of a program into independent, interchangeable modules, such that each contains everything necessary to execute only one aspect of the desired functionality.
Modular Programming. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_programming. Accessed 9 May 2016.
"one aspect"
small modules philosophy
It's all about containing complexity... By making small focused modules you can easily build large complex systems without having to know every single detail of how everything works. Our short term memory is finite.
Sindre Sorhus
https://github.com/sindresorhus/ama/issues/10#issuecomment-117766328
how small is too small?
did we forget to program when we stopped writing C?
did we forget to program when we stopped writing C?
... or when we stopped writing assembly?
did we forget to program when we stopped writing C?
... or when we stopped writing assembly?
... or when we stopped doing electrical engineering?
no true programmer!
no true scotsman!
no true programmer
no true programmer
When applications are done well, they are just the really application-specific, brackish residue that can't be so easily abstracted away. All the nice, reusable components sublimate away onto github and npm where everybody can collaborate to advance the commons.
substack
http://substack.net/how_I_write_modules
commons are Hard...
require('gall');
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evovled from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a simple system.
John Gall
what is simplicity?
Rich Hickey, "Simple, Made Easy" http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy Strangeloop 2011
what is information?
require('cesar');
why can order in the universe deteriorate even as it grows on Earth?
Information is not a thing; rather it is the arrangement of physical things. It is physical order, like what distinguishes different shuffles of a deck of cards. What is surprising to most people, however, is that information is meaningless.
it's not what the modules contain
it's how we put them together
the trouble with modularity
The more I modularize my code. The bigger it gets.
Nolan Lawson
"The cost of small modules". Read the Tea Leaves. 15 August 2016.
Over 400ms is being spent simply walking the Browserify tree.
Sam Saccone
"The cost of small modules". Read the Tea Leaves. 15 August 2016.
How many modules are in a typical web application?
requirebin.com: 91 modules
keybase.io: 365 modules
m.reddit.com: 1050 modules
Apple.com: 1060 modules
https://nolanlawson.com/2016/08/15/the-cost-of-small-modules/
it's not the size of the modules, it's the sheer number of them
Yes, small modules are easier to write. Yes, they’re easier to test. Yes, it’s easier to adhere to semver. These are all things that make your life as a library author easier. As we’ve seen, they come at a cost for others.
Rich Harris
https://medium.com/@Rich_Harris/small-modules-it-s-not-quite-that-simple-3ca532d65de4#.9qtsjcmd6
the small modules philosophy:
the small modules philosophy:
benefits the library writers
the small modules philosophy:
benefits the library writers
disadvantages application writes
the small modules philosophy:
benefits the library writers
disadvantages application writes
harms end users
how did we end up here?
require('kuhn');
Scientists work from models acquired through education and through subsequent exposure to the literature often without quite knowing or needing to know what characteristics have given these models the status of community paradigms.
Thomas Kuhn
Kuhn, Thomas. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", pg 46 (1962)
require('ceejbot');
Your monolith is complex. A split system is more complex.
CJ Silverio
require('hickey');
Most of the big problems in software are problems of misconception.
Rich Hickey
"Hammock Driven Development". Clojure Conj, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84n5oFoZBc.
software development is change management
require('hawking');
It is an interesting reflection on the general climate of thought before the twentieth century that no one had suggested that the universe was expanding or contracting.
Steven Hawking
A Brief History of Time. Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks: 6, 1988.
require('parnas');
[Start] with a list of difficult design decisions or design decisions which are likely to change. Each module is then designed to hide such a decision from the others.
David Parnas
Parnas, D. L. 1972 On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc: Programming Techniques, 1053-1058.
the goal of modularity is not to make things easier but to hide the things that are hard
Here we demonstrate that the ubiquitous, direct selection pressure to reduce the cost of connections between network nodes causes the emergence of modular networks.
Clune J, Mouret J-B, Lipson H. 2013 The evolutionary origins of modularity. Proc R Soc B 280: 20122863. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2863
how to computer?
None of us are born knowing how to write software.
Rich Hickey
all is not lost, dogs know calculus
corgis are made of star stuff
corgis are made of star stuff
and so are we
despair?
require('sartre');
require('tef');
Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend. Instead of building re-usable software, we should try to build disposable software. I don’t need to tell you that deleting code is more fun than writing it.
Tef
http://programmingisterrible.com/post/139222674273/write-code-that-is-easy-to-delete-not-easy-to
repeat yourself to avoid creating dependencies, but don’t repeat yourself to manage them
layer your code too: build simple-to-use APIs out of simpler-to-implement but clumsy-to-use parts.
split your code: isolate the hard-to-write and the likely-to-change parts from the rest of the code, and each other.
don’t try to do all of these things at the same time, and maybe don’t write so much code in the first place.
what is spacetime?
spacetime
refers to whatever external reality underlies our collective experiences of the space between things and the time between events.
"Are Space and Time An Illusion" PBS Space Time, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YycAzdtUIko.
why not just time? why not just space?
why add space time as an extra concept?
Suppose 2 observers are moving at relative speeds to each other...
they can't agree on how much time passes between events
they can't agree on how much space
they can't EVEN agree on the chronological order of events
... yet neither of them is wrong.
what is time is a tough question, it's not even the full question
what is modularity is a tough question, it's not even the full question
Julia Evans, @b0rk
npm install
a-brief-history
{
"name": "a brief history and mishistory of modularity",
"author": "ashley williams @ag_dubs",
"version": "1.0.0",
"dependencies" : {
"Edsger Dijkstra": "On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computer Science",
"Stephen Hawking": "A Brief History of Time",
"Rich Hickey": "Hammock Driven Development",
"Rich Hickey": "Design, Composition, Performance",
"Tef": "Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend.",
"CJ Silverio": "Cheating Gall's Law",
"Nolan Lawson": "The cost of small modules",
"Substack": "How I write modules",
"Sindre Sohrus": "Small Modules: Tales from a Serial Module Author"
}
