Think of prototypes as a funny markup language--the interpretation is left up to the rendering engine.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Prototypes are likened to a markup language where rendering engines decide the meaning.
- In plain terms
- Prototypes are like markup; the engine interprets them.
- What can you take from it?
- Design flexible systems that let downstream components define behavior.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much freedom should an engine have?
- When to lock down semantics?
Another view
Too much flexibility can lead to inconsistent implementations.
More from Larry Wall
For the sake of argument I'll ignore all your fighting words.
Permalink to quote #158 The way these things go, there are probably 6 or 8 kludgey ways to do it, and a better way that involves rethinking something that hasn't been rethunk yet.
Permalink to quote #160 People who understand context would be steamed to have someone else dictating how they can call it.
Permalink to quote #157
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