I posted a comment on libraries vs frameworks yesterday[0], here's the relevant section.
> Frameworks are easier to setup initially, but they do not scale. Why is it that Microsoft Windows has 13 different dialog generations? Because each is a framework on top of a framework on top of a framework. It's amazing that they can even get that done.
> On the other side, OSS is generally built on libraries. When the 2 UNIX devs were in a basement building UNIX and were able to out-compete Multics[1], they did it because they were building libraries that could talk with each-other using pipes around the boundary. Applications that communicate based on input-output with no internal state behave just like pure functions do. Pure functions compose. When Linus built git in 10 days, he was able to do this because the core idea of git isn't actually that much work. The library is built out of composable blocks that neatly come together. Microsoft's TFS Source Control is a framework that acts on your behalf and therefore the bigger the project gets, you need n^2 people to work on it.
Amazon's API mandate is the same exact unification as UNIX's pipe effect was to Operating Systems. Amazon's internal teams are building libraries whereas all other companies started at the same time were building frameworks. Jeff was brilliant to see this at the time, and I expect that this memo will be seen as just as pivotal as the Toyota Production System, and it might already have that prestige to some. Unfortunately for other companies, you can't retrofit into it and rewrites are always a terrible idea[2].
> Frameworks are easier to setup initially, but they do not scale. Why is it that Microsoft Windows has 13 different dialog generations? Because each is a framework on top of a framework on top of a framework. It's amazing that they can even get that done.
> On the other side, OSS is generally built on libraries. When the 2 UNIX devs were in a basement building UNIX and were able to out-compete Multics[1], they did it because they were building libraries that could talk with each-other using pipes around the boundary. Applications that communicate based on input-output with no internal state behave just like pure functions do. Pure functions compose. When Linus built git in 10 days, he was able to do this because the core idea of git isn't actually that much work. The library is built out of composable blocks that neatly come together. Microsoft's TFS Source Control is a framework that acts on your behalf and therefore the bigger the project gets, you need n^2 people to work on it.
Amazon's API mandate is the same exact unification as UNIX's pipe effect was to Operating Systems. Amazon's internal teams are building libraries whereas all other companies started at the same time were building frameworks. Jeff was brilliant to see this at the time, and I expect that this memo will be seen as just as pivotal as the Toyota Production System, and it might already have that prestige to some. Unfortunately for other companies, you can't retrofit into it and rewrites are always a terrible idea[2].
[0]: https://qht.co/item?id=27570917
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ea3pkTCYx4, thanks to this HN comment(https://qht.co/item?id=27494671) for this reference.
[2]: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...