Types of Glue
Well, it looks like I've started a new catch phrase with my rant about Glue. Didn't mean too, but as long as we're going to do it, let's be precise. In general, “Glue” is what Microsoft wants developers to do: buy or build components (or services) and build applications by “gluing” them together. There's really lots of types of “Glue” I think:
Super Glue: Anybody or anything that, when glued together, produces highly-sustainable applications with a minimum amount of effort. SOA done right is Enterprise Super Glue in my mind.
Crazy Glue: Cruft use gluing stuff up. Seems like a good idea at the time, but eventually becomes impossible to work with leaving you “stuck with it.“ The evil opposite of Super Glue.
Rubber Cement: Any component or service that's especially hard to get to “glue up right.“ Also, any application that's based on “just glue it“ that is hard to maintain or update.
JB Weld: Term used describe a case when an application has been over-designed or over-architected. “Too bad they wasted all their time welding that up when JB would have done. Comes from the product named “JB Weld.“
Duct Tape: The opposite of JB Weld, used to describe “Just Glue Its“ that really should have been designed differently to be sustainable. Differs from Crazy Glue in that Duct Tape was bad from the start.
Mort Glue: Applications constructed by “just get it done“ developers without much thought to design or reuse. Neither good nor bad, just basic.
Elvis Glue: The use Glue to add flashy, extravagant or excessive code to an application for the sake of having them around because they are “cool.“ What Jeff Brand calls “smells like glue.“ Typically bad from a sustainable standpoint.
Einstien Glue: The almost pedantic and excessive use design patterns to create gluable objects, or the use of deep knowledge of the internals of an OS, Service or Runtime to Glue in an non-obvious way. Think DDE.
Glue Gun: Visual Studio.
Glue Sniffer: Obvious, anybody that uses “just glue it” for everything if it's not the best pattern to use.
The list could go on and on and on...