Table of ContentsPrevious Next 


Law of Leaky Abstractions


  • All Abstractions Leak - Joel Spolsky
  • Frameworks are good but can be dangerous in this case (each framework has different ideas about forms and buttons
  • ultimate abstraction is HTML form + button
  • Recall the End to End argument
  • Sometimes if you put too much into framework, you fight against the underlying abstraction
  • Leaks - bugs - developer head-scratching - user head-scratching "not what I expected" - $$$$$ lost
  • Hence: We need to plug leaks in our technology stack
  • Aggressive Layer Stripping
  • "Lets not give users enough rope for them to shoot themselves in the foot"
    - Mixed metaphor Koranteng Toli circa 1998