Re: Choosing the Right Abstraction

It's turtles all the way down.

On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Patrick Leahy <tenebrousedge@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
>

--
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.