you are in a box
a day ago
- Switching costs cause tools to grow and stagnate; reducing switching costs via interoperability helps escape this trap.
- Interoperability methods include backwards compatibility, standardization, foreign function interfaces (FFI), and inter-process communication (IPC).
- Unix shells enable ad-hoc program composition through pipes, but lack structured data; structured IPC (e.g., PowerShell, nushell) adds types but has limitations.
- RPC provides in-band schema and strong typing but requires significant developer effort to implement.
- Programs are described as 'boxes' that trap data, making interop difficult; the author promises a future post on escaping this box.