Forget spaghetti code. Write RAVIOLI code.

I Find Karma (adam@cs.caltech.edu)
Wed, 2 Apr 97 14:47:10 PST


[Transcribed from the November-December 1992 issue of the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory Software Engineering Newsletter.]

The mention of ``a feast of spaghetti code'' [``Computer Collectives,''
CrossTalk, April/May 1992] prompted this response by Raymond J. Rubey
SofTech, Inc., Fairborn, OH.

"Nearly every software professional has heard of the term spaghetti code
as a pejorative description for complicated, difficult-to-understand,
and impossible-to-maintain, software. However, many people may not know
the other two elements of the complete Pasta Theory of Software.

Lasagna code is used to describe software that has a simple,
understandable, and layered structure. Lasagna code, although
structured, is unfortunately monolithic and not easy to modify. An
attempt to change one layer, while conceptually simple, is often
difficult in actual practice.

The ideal software structure is one having components that are small and
loosely coupled; this ideal structure is called ravioli code. In
ravioli code, each of the components, or objects, is a package
containing some meat or other nourishment for the system; any component
can be modified or replaced without significantly affecting other
components.

We need to go beyond the condemnation of spaghetti code and to the
active encouragement of ravioli code."

----
adam@cs.caltech.edu

Can't be held responsible, 'cause she was touching her face. And
I won't be held responsible; she fell in love in the first place.
For the life of me, I cannot remember, what made us think that
we were wise and we'd never compromise. For the life of me, I
cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins; we were merely freshmen.
-- the Verve Pipe