principles:uniformity_principle
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revisionNext revisionBoth sides next revision | ||
principles:uniformity_principle [2021-05-19 09:49] – old revision restored (2021-05-11 17:19) 2a04:ac00:4:d29:5054:ff:fe00:d387 | principles:uniformity_principle [2021-09-02 12:50] – old revision restored (2021-05-19 09:48) 65.21.179.175 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
===== Context ===== | ===== Context ===== | ||
/* fill in contexts here: */ | /* fill in contexts here: */ | ||
- | * [[contexts: | + | * [[contexts: |
- | * [[contexts: | + | |
- | * [[contexts: | + | |
- | * [[contexts: | + | |
- | * [[contexts: | + | |
- | * [[contexts: | + | |
===== Principle Statement ===== | ===== Principle Statement ===== | ||
- | Solve similar problems | + | Solve similar problems the same way. |
===== Description ===== | ===== Description ===== | ||
- | |||
- | Software design comprises many similar tasks. There are plenty of design decisions that are similar to ones taken before. UP tells that a design is good when similar design problems are solved the same way. UP can be applied to a large variety of problems: naming identifiers, | ||
- | |||
- | Striving for consistency and always using the same solutions also means that it can be a good idea to apply a " | ||
===== Rationale ===== | ===== Rationale ===== | ||
- | |||
- | Following UP reduces the number of different solutions. There are fewer concepts to learn, fewer problems to solve and fewer kinds of defects that can occur. So the developers, whether the original ones or the maintainers, | ||
Line 32: | Line 22: | ||
* Use the same naming scheme everywhere | * Use the same naming scheme everywhere | ||
- | * Use the same techniques, mechanisms, libraries, | + | * Use the same techniques and mechanisms |
* In similar methods use the same order of parameters | * In similar methods use the same order of parameters | ||
- | |||
- | |||
===== Caveats ===== | ===== Caveats ===== | ||
- | UP demands solving similar problems in the //same way// and not just in a similar way. This is crucial as subtle differences can be dangerous. These small differences are created easily. Sometimes it is impossible to do two things exactly the same way. And also over time two modules may slowly diverge. So it is sometimes better to have two modules work completely differently than to allow for these subtle differences as they easily lead to misconceptions and mistakes (see [[Murphy' | + | See section [[#contrary principles]]. |
- | + | ||
- | See also section [[#contrary principles]]. | + | |
===== Origin ===== | ===== Origin ===== | ||
- | |||
- | This principle is newly proposed here. Nevertheless the idea is not new and should be pretty intuitive to every developer. | ||
Line 62: | Line 46: | ||
* [[Murphy' | * [[Murphy' | ||
- | |||
==== Specializations ==== | ==== Specializations ==== | ||
Line 69: | Line 52: | ||
Note that UP can be contrary to virtually every other principle as it demands neglecting other principles in favor of uniformity. | Note that UP can be contrary to virtually every other principle as it demands neglecting other principles in favor of uniformity. | ||
- | * [[Keep It Simple Stupid]] (KISS): | + | * [[Keep It Simple Stupid]] (KISS): |
* [[Model Principle]] (MP): UP may demand adhering to a certain naming scheme, which may not be best with respect to MP. See [[#example 1: naming schemes]]. | * [[Model Principle]] (MP): UP may demand adhering to a certain naming scheme, which may not be best with respect to MP. See [[#example 1: naming schemes]]. | ||
Line 98: | Line 81: | ||
===== Description Status ===== | ===== Description Status ===== | ||
/* Choose one of the following and comment out the rest: */ | /* Choose one of the following and comment out the rest: */ | ||
- | /*[[wiki: | + | [[wiki: |
- | [[wiki: | + | /*[[wiki: |
/ | / | ||
===== Further Reading ===== | ===== Further Reading ===== | ||
- | ===== Discussion ===== | ||
- | Discuss this wiki article and the principle on the corresponding [[talk: |
principles/uniformity_principle.txt · Last modified: 2021-10-18 22:00 by christian