The Platypus Problem

Hi. I’m eaton.twitter.com/eaton

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Jeff Eaton.Core Drupal developer.Co-author of Using Drupal.Consultant and architect at Lullabot.


Primarily large clientsHelping them plan, get out of pickles, etc.Lots of training, public and private.Although I got involved with code, I spend most of my time planning and coordinating. I’m that guy.

WARNING

NO CODESaturday, October 16, 2010

A warning: Today is a NO CODE ZONE. We’re thinking meta.This is my cheesemonger. No money to think meta.This is the White House. No time to think meta.Both of them are affected - mom’s D5 site broke, and drupal is now differentAt events like this we have the luxury of it.We’re planning for the future.


Let’s go to imagination land and think about some big questions.

1: Platypodes2: Carnivore, Bill3: Mammal, Eggs4: Electric Nose5: Milk Sweat6: Poison Feet


Plural is NOT platypiChipmunk cheeks, too.Two ovaries, but they only use one

Phase 2?

Nuclear HoovesSaturday, October 16, 2010

1: Three Queues2: Profile Module3: Two Actions4: OOrrays5: Block Regions6: Yeah, Images


Remind anyone of something?Drupal - our complexity is platypus-style

Version 8?

Poisonous FeetSaturday, October 16, 2010

The Platypus Problem:

Inexplicable Emergent

Complexity


http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2134277399Saturday, October 16, 2010

Is complexity truly a problem?Isn’t it something that we can throw more people at? More documentation?Isn’t it just the eternal tug-of-war?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2134277399

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2134277399

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77422674@N00/693945631/

Construction


“There’s a module for that” -- or 100 modulesHow many tools do you have on your largest site? How many modules?Did you use the RIGHT ONES? How do you know?Are they released? are they changing? Security update? Cross-module compatability?




Code


Solving bigger and bigger problems.We have more contributors, we have more moving parts.Dries doesn't get it all, webchick can't keep track, chx doesn't recognize it allI don't even know what modules were released this weekSame problem in contrib: Views for Drupal 6 is larger than Drupal 5Multiple solutions emerging every day



Community

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8897633@N02/4923221504/Saturday, October 16, 2010

It's not a club anymore.There are whole swaths of people who didn't get the 'chx' jokeWho should do X? Who should I ASK about Y? Who’s responsible for Y? Pay vs Hobbyists? What is Karma FOR?Who explains Karma to the newcomers?



Yes.It’s a Problem.


How do we cope with it?How do we understand it?The good news is that it’s not just our problem.

“I put a GridView onto my CallBack control and now I get a ViewState is corrupt error”. The real answer to this question is not the one supplied: “this is

fixed in the next version.”

http://whatupdave.tumblr.com/post/1170718843/leaving-net


ASP.Net projects rely on an ecosystem of Web ControlsUpgrade compatabilities, support hassles, etc.



“It’s a pile of spaghetti with insane indirection and module

dependencies and you’re lucky if you manage to import anything at all.

Every other function tries to import modules for you automatically and

circular imports are the norm.”

http://mockit.blogspot.com/2010/04/mess-djangos-in.html


Django is a cluster of inter-dependent componentsBuild tools manage the complexity, but it’s there!



“From a systemadministration standpoint,

Plone is just shy of being the absolute devil.”

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/348044/what-could-justify-the-complexity-of-ploneSaturday, October 16, 2010

See, that’s just funny.Wordpress plugin bloat is a growing problemExpressionEngine users are complaining that “really” building a site requires piles of addons

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/348044/what-could-justify-the-complexity-of-plone

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/348044/what-could-justify-the-complexity-of-plone


Wordpress plugin bloat is a growing problemJoomla! users have to manage their themes’ compatability with their pluginsExpressionEngine users are complaining that “really” building a site requires piles of addons...Linux is and always will be Linux.

NOT US

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21165371@N00/3245301713


We are not special snowflakes.Drupal IS particularly susceptible to thisEven the core software itself is built that wayCulture of cross-module interactionBut it's a general problem.




But… But…Architecture!

It’s great to plan what you control.


Architecture was supposed to protect us from this.Architecture is about plans and execution.Blueprints and timelines and tradeoffsOH THE GANNNNNNNNT CHARTS



for what

YOUcontrol


Can this be emphasized enough?Cathedral and Bazaar has its dark sideBig danger is in ignoring itHouse with sump pumps


Back to the platypus... Think of Drupal like evolution.We talk a lot about it, but rarely take it seriously.Even use "Natural selection" to talk about module successDries said patches are mutations!We call Drupal an Ecosystem, but we ignore it when we plan.

Drupal: AnEcosystem?


We call Drupal an Ecosystem, but we ignore it when we plan.All the organisms, and habitats, etc that make up an area.The whole that emerges from all the little parts.They're independent, but related.Interdependent.



Core! Everyone Depends on it!Third-party modules -- jillions of them!Participants come and go, submit patchesTeeny modules emerge to fill gaps, and vanish when the techniques fall out of favor



Modules live on sitesSome sites add resources back insponsoring development with money or developer-hours



No roadmap, no master plan.The otter can’t force the turtle to help.Wild and crazy. It works!But seriously... what does it look like if we take it seriously?

Every module is a species!

Core is a critter, too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markscott/930501687


They evolve over time, compete, swallow each other up, etc.Sometimes they die because there isn't a place for them or they're superceded Flexinode to CCK to FieldAPI -- and modules that used to do those focused things.Views today isn't the Views of 2 years ago, and other modules have evolved to depend on it.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/dullhunk/439737660

Mutations!

Patches arewhere change

happens


They come constantly.Sometimes they get folded back into the main 'tree' of codesometimes they die offbut they're how drupal core and all the modules evolve.



Habitats:

The web siteswhere moduleslive and learn


Modules live on sites.Modules that live in lots of habitats tend to thrive betterSelection pressures = size or traffic demands or specific featuresThese filter out modules that are not well adapted

Biomes! Well-known types of

habitats. Er, sites.

Profiles?http://www.flickr.com/photos/casch/292720481


Biomes are They are the commonalities across many habitats, patterns that we can recognize.They let us learn and share the knowledge.They let us spot what DOESN’T make sense, too

NOMNOMNOM

Developers?



More accurately, their time is food.High-protein food for cats is different than high-fiber bamboo for a pandadifferent developers have different areas of expertise and knowledge.



Drupal: AnEcosystem.


Does ithelp us

understand?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvain_masson/4195880838




Don’t HackCore!


Eventually, you inevitably diverge so much that you can't cross-breed. You're a mule! The Onion faced that problem. Platypuses face that problem, too. All their living relatives are extinct. "Hack core, and you're dead to me."

Why is itso ugly?


Key word -- design. The best work tends to emerge from the specific habitat rather than the evolutionary process. Why isn't the platypus PRETTIER? Although great design has been *dropped* on Drupal several times, it rarely emerges from the evolutionary process.

There’s a module for that!


Diversity is a good thing! Lots of little critters that fill lots of niches is good. It means that there are lots of solutions being created, and lots of evolution happening.

…But don’t duplicate modules!


Different needs, different solutions. But resource starvation is dangerous. If you're duplicating someone else's work, that's two of you who could be working on (feeding?) the same module.

Complexityis a disease!

(…but we need wysiwyg so bad…)


...But we need more stuff in core.Small things need less food, and are more nimble.It means more interdependencies, but it doesn't put all the chips in one spot.It puts the complexity into the SYSTEM, not into the SPECIES.It’s a tradeoff that makes us more agile in some ways but more vulnerable in others

Talk is silvercode is gold


The 'natural selection' quality only kicks in when something is out there. Ideas are important and need to be discussed and evaluated, but the process that the vast majority of the community

The take-away


Study your habitat


Look at your site using that habitat analogyThink of it in terms of the high level functions that it needs: user feedback, product sales, etcConsider what kinds of ‘creatures’ are well suited for itPutting dev hours into contrib is like feeding the fauna

Know your honeybees


Anyone know about the honeybee crash?Study the subtle interdependencies in your habitat/site.Watch the vulnerable parts - does your site live and die by hook_cron?Is there one contributor that helps in every issue?

Spot the mammals


Change comes, and the tools you built with will change.Ber Kessels -- God bless him -- stuck with Flexinode.Watch new modules, screencasts, blog posts, site writeupsWatch for trends that affect you.

Plan for extinction


Modules go away.Contributors get busy, start dating.Maintaining dead modules is like captive breedingEXERCISE: pick five modules, pretend they vanished

Respect the platypodes

Arrrrrr.


Inexplicable, emergent complexity can baffle us all.The biggest danger is pretending it isn’t thereArchitecture needs context. Don’t punt on complexity - it’s like saying, “Use sump pumps.”

Technology

The Platypus Problem