Stefan Tilkov's Random Stuff

Lessons of the Web

Benjamin Carlyle:

Many people have tried to come up with a definitive list of lessons from the Web. In this article I present my own list, which is firmly slanted towards the role of the software architect in managing competing demands over a large architecture.

Here’s his list:

  • You can’t upgrade the whole Web
  • Protocols must evolve
  • Protocols must be decoupled to evolve
  • Object identification must be free to evolve
  • New object interactions must be able to be added over time
  • Prefer low-semantic-precision document types over newly-invented document types
  • Ignore parts of content that are not understood
  • Be cautious about the use of namespaces in documents
  • New content types must be able to be added over time
  • Keep It Simple