The Real Lessons of Lego (for Software)
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Join For FreeWe start with the standard Lego brick:

Of course there are multiple colours:

And a few variations:

Which now allows us to snap together a useful wall:
Walls are good but to build anything more interesting we need some more pieces, maybe some flat pieces:
Or some thinner pieces, or some bigger pieces:
I think we’re heading for a house so we will need some doors and windows:
Personally I like wheels, I like things to move, and so do my kids. So we need some wheels - different size of course, and some means of attaching them to the other Lego blocks:
If we are building a car we need to be able to see out….
Umm… my imagination is running away, we need to steer, and how about a helicopter, and a ramp to load things onto the car/boat/plane/.…
Still, something missing…. people!

Lego is not homogenous, when you say “Lego brick software” people are probably thinking of the first 2x8 block I showed. But to make anything really interesting you need lots of other bits. Some of those bits have very specific uses.
- You regularly feel the need for some special part which doesn’t exist
- You never have enough of some parts
- You always make compromises in your design to work with the parts you have
So the next time someone says: “We need software like Lego bricks” remind them of these points.
Published at DZone with permission of Allan Kelly, DZone MVB. See the original article here.
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