Choosing the Right Abstraction

If abstractions are the greatest tool to reduce complexity in a system, then the primary task of the competent programmer is to choose the right abstraction.

In the same way that one may define an arbitrarily complex fractal with a simple set of rules, so too we may generate arbitrarily complex data structures with simple abstractions. The mechanism for exploiting self-similarity in object-oriented programming is called inheritance.

The fundamental interaction of the web framework is this: a Request provokes a Response. In the context of an MVC framework, there is a division of labor between the code that handles requests, and the code that handles responses. In the context of CakePHP, we have both a Request Object, and a Response Object.

In another context, we have an HttpSocket class, which has a HttpSocketResponse class, and is conspicuously lacking an HttpSocketRequest class.

And in a far more crucial context, we have the fundamental interaction of the CakePHP framework with the various database objects. The CakePHP community is now realizing its need for a Database Response object. The pattern of interacting with a server has not changed! In order to break away from a monolithic Model class, we must implement MVC in a microcosm, and to exploit the self-similarity in all of these various methods.

We must separate out request handling methods from response handling methods, and to separate business logic from presentation logic. Whether or not to represent a response as an object or an array must be a function of our DataView layer. Our DataModel class seems to already be divided into various DataSources. These themselves could as easily be subdivided into the same MVC pattern, down to the function level.

Finally, and in humility, while I make a great many absolute and imperative statements, I recognize that they are backed by nothing more substantial than my own insight and opinion. Feel free to take issue with anything you see as a misconception.

--
Like Us on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/CakePHP
Find us on Twitter http://twitter.com/CakePHP
 
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group.
To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en.