Programming code and the underlying rocks on a stream bed: an analogy

 

Or start your 'rocks' tutorials with XHTML: Intro

 

 

What did I mean when I said the following?

 

"... the code used in website construction ... the 'rocks' that lie beneath the surface interface and functionality of a website ...", on my About Us page.

 

The fast flowing stream.

 

Imagine standing by the edge of a fast following stream.

 

What do you see?

 

A vast volume of water moving past: a constantly changing mass of water. Moving too fast to fully inspect and comprehend.

 

But what else do you see?

 

Patterns on the surface of the water.

 

What causes the patterns on the surface of the water?

 

The shape of the rocks on the stream bed: the underlying rocks.

 

The shape of these underlying rocks changes extremely slowly in comparison with the water flowing over them. The patterns they create on the water surface change slowly also.

 

An analogy.

 

The mass of software programs and versions and their companion operating systems may change repeatedly and ever more frequently: the vast volume of constantly changing water.

 

Let us now imagine that the patterns on the surface of the water is a software interface. An interface that creates a website and its functionality for example.

 

What these different programs and systems have in common is an interface that changes slowly and only as new demands and innovations appear.

 

What has created the interface?

 

The underlying programming code: the rocks.

 

Is it worth the time and effort attempting to understand some of the code used in website construction? Will what I have learnt be useless to me tomorrow?

 

We could push the analogy further and talk about a 'storm flood' radically altering the stream bed and introducing new patterns on the surface. This does occasionally happen, not very often and they are difficult to predict. But do they really change the fundamentals of programming logic?

 

I believe it is worth the effort involved in learning about the underlying code.

 

Programming and scripting languages will evolve and occasionally a radical step is made in a programming approach. The logic however remains constant. This is because the logic is based on mathematics and as Paul Erdos said, “Everything but mathematics must come to an end.”

 

 

Back to top.

 

 

Copyright © 2006-2010 justfigures.co.uk