Dear Squeakers,

I've just finished reading the PIE paper and enjoyed it!

---
I. P. Goldstein and D. G. Bobrow. "A layered approach to software design"
(1980)
<http://www.dolphinharbor.org/docs/PIE%20Layered%20Approach.pdf>
---

It's interesting what has been actual twenty years ago *and* today!

I think it is a very interesting tool for collaborative work.


Just to share a few thoughts:

Important to me:
- it emphasizes the importance of a good user interface to view the context
graphs;
- integration of documentation and code;
- concept of a public repository;
- very flexible;
- concept of - changeable - default paths (section 3.4) to ease navigation
inside the PIE graph: very important!;
- allows switching contexts on and off;
- editing of contexts without being active: much better than isolated
changesets!;

But there is 'no free lunch':
- conventions are needed for collaborative work;
- it doesn't solve our modularity problems: but it is possibly a tool for
solving them;
- stable, testing and unstable (to speak in Debian terms) variants of a
distribution have to be made by - however chosen - authorities: they don't
arise randomly.

To the last point: condensing layers after choosing 'good' contexts (means
the best designs) by harvesters would be needed here.


Greetings,

Stephan
-- 
Stephan Rudlof (sr at evolgo.de)
   "Genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis.
    You can't simply say, 'Today I will be brilliant.'"
    -- Kirk, "The Ultimate Computer", stardate 4731.3