New post on technological principles.

blog/posts/2021-01-21-five-technological-principles-to-live-by.cfg

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+filename = 2021-01-21-five-technological-principles-to-live-by.html
+title = Five Technological Principles to Live By
+description = Five principles which we should use as a guide when deciding what technologies to use or (in the case of engineers) how we should develop our technological solutions.
+created = 2021-01-21
+updated = 2021-01-21

blog/posts/2021-01-21-five-technological-principles-to-live-by.html

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+<p>A problem that presents itself with our use of modern technologies
+and how we develop them is how extremely inefficient it ends up being.
+Often times the technological solutions we choose to solve a given
+problem are overly complex and rigid, requiring us to be wasteful. As a
+result of this demand for poorly designed technologies, suppliers
+provide exactly what we ask for, and as such engineers develop
+technologies that promote this inefficient use.</p>
+
+<p>Basing these primarily on the UNIX
+philosophy<sup><a href="#r1" >[1]</a></sup>, I've come up with a five
+principles by which I decide which technological solutions to elect, as
+well as how my own software should be designed. It's worth noting that
+these are not only applicable to software or even digital technological
+solutions, but rather can be applied to any use of technology.</p>
+
+<p><i>Necessity</i>. We must understand this principle not in its
+strictest form (i.e. what is absolutely necessary to survive), but
+rather in the true sense of what an ordered use of technology is: a
+means to achieve an end. We call them "solutions" because they solve a
+problem. As such, technology should not be an end within itself, and if
+we are to use a technology, it should be to achieve a set goal. If there
+is no goal then we should likely not use the technology.</p>
+
+<p>As a note on this matter, we must distinguish technology as a tool
+(which is the object of this article) and technology used in art (e.g. a
+video game), as in this case the art is the end to which the technology
+is ordered.</p>
+
+<p><i>Simplicity</i>. After we determine that a technological solution
+is required, and as such have also determined what features we require
+of said technology to provide a viable solution, we must always choose
+the simplest option available to use. This is to say, a solution that
+does only that which we require of it and nothing more. In the (common)
+event that this is not possible, we must choose that solution which has
+the least amount of excess features. The reason being that the more
+complex a system is the higher chances there are of that system having
+a structural flaw, and due to the complexity of the technology, solving
+it becomes its very own struggle. As such, by having a system that is no
+more complex than absolutely necessary, one avoids a larger number of
+technological problems. To give an example, one is much more likely to
+encounter problems writing with a typewriter than with a pen or
+pencil.</p>
+
+<p>This principle, however, should never trump the principle of
+necessity. That is to say, we should not neglect a necessity in the name
+of simplicity. If a necessity requires that a more complex solution be
+used, then this overrides the principle of simplicity.</p>
+
+<p><i>Modularity</i>. In aid of maintaining the principle of simplicity,
+a technological solution should also be modular, and therefore
+facilitating the addition and removal of modules/components that can add
+new features. This permits the base technology to only provide the most
+basic and fundamental of functionalities, while also being extensible
+such that new features that may be required by the user can easily be
+added or removed when need be. Here one could think of the example of a
+hunter's rifle, upon which a scope may be mounted.</p>
+
+<p><i>Interoperability</i>. A technological solution must be able to
+easily operate with other technologies, thereby permitting that each one
+may specialize in a specific task, and the output of one may serve as
+input for the next. This principle reinforces the principle of
+simplicity by allowing for each individual technology to specialize in
+its own task, rather than requiring that a single technology solve the
+entire problem. This can be thought of in the sense of an assembly line,
+where at each station a different task is performed. Each task is
+independent of the one before it, yet they all contribute towards the
+same ultimate goal.</p>
+
+<p><i>Universality</i>. The technology must be able to input and output
+in a standard and universal format that is not specific to that
+technology, therefore facilitating its replacement with a better
+solution. This principle serves to enable the previous principle of
+interoperability, as it is what allows for one technology to input the
+output of another, making proper use of it. It also makes the system of
+independent interoperable technologies more flexible, allowing one to
+remove one component and replace it with another that may have more
+aptitude solving a particular problem. An example of this would be
+language itself, as we use a common language in order to communicate
+ideas in a standard manner such that it may be commonly understood.</p>
+
+<p>Now, although these principles are great in theory, in practice we
+find that often times solutions meeting all these principles are simply
+not available. This is especially true in the area of computer programs,
+where often times companies will neglect these principles (regardless of
+how useful they are) for business reasons. However, they may still serve
+as a general guideline when we discern what technological solutions to
+choose to solve different problems we are confronted with, and those
+technologies that are compliant with more principles should be favored
+over those that are compliant with less.</p>
+
+<label id="r1" >[1]</label>
+<a
+	   href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy"
+	   target="_blank" >
+	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
+</a>