New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: What do you call “scriptable” software?
Ask HN: What do you call “scriptable” software?
2 by deanebarker | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Some software has two "levels" execution. A primary level, which is developed by the vendor, and secondary level which may be provided by the users to perform relatively complicated custom logic -- logic beyond that would be reasonable for simple configuration or a UI. Is there a name for this? Consider a software system that "delegates" execution points to some other language or runtime entirely. These are systems that have some level of "scripting." For example, say I have a web application written in .NET which has a workflow engine. This engine can be configured, and might even have a UI to drag boxes and arrows around. However, at the end of a workflow step, I also allow the option for my users to provide some JavaScript that is executed server-side that produces the next workflow recipient. It can execute whatever logic it wants -- all the engine cares about is the result it returns. So, the PRIMARY execution engine delegates control to a SECONDARY execution engine, then incorporates the result that comes back into further execution. I intuitively know about this architecture model, and I've used models like it many times, but I'd like to know if there's an accepted, general name for this model. (Note: I am fully aware that I may have answered by own question in the title. If so, let me know.)
2 by deanebarker | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Some software has two "levels" execution. A primary level, which is developed by the vendor, and secondary level which may be provided by the users to perform relatively complicated custom logic -- logic beyond that would be reasonable for simple configuration or a UI. Is there a name for this? Consider a software system that "delegates" execution points to some other language or runtime entirely. These are systems that have some level of "scripting." For example, say I have a web application written in .NET which has a workflow engine. This engine can be configured, and might even have a UI to drag boxes and arrows around. However, at the end of a workflow step, I also allow the option for my users to provide some JavaScript that is executed server-side that produces the next workflow recipient. It can execute whatever logic it wants -- all the engine cares about is the result it returns. So, the PRIMARY execution engine delegates control to a SECONDARY execution engine, then incorporates the result that comes back into further execution. I intuitively know about this architecture model, and I've used models like it many times, but I'd like to know if there's an accepted, general name for this model. (Note: I am fully aware that I may have answered by own question in the title. If so, let me know.)
Comments
Post a Comment