\n(Cultural note: The phrase\nthe mating call of the loser<\/I>\nis a term of derision.\nI used it here to create a more provocative headline\neven though it’s stronger than I really intended,\nbut\n\ngood writing is bold<\/A>.)\n<\/P>\n \nWhen given a choice between two architectures,\nsome people say that\n\nyou should give users a checkbox to select which one should be used<\/A>.\nThat is the ultimate cowardly answer.\nYou can’t decide between two fundamentally different approaches,\nand instead of picking one, you say\n“Let’s do both<\/A>!”,\nthereby creating triple, perhaps quadruple the work compared\nto just choosing one or the other.\n<\/P>\n \nIt’s like you’re remodeling a book library and somebody asks you,\n“Should we use\n\nDewey Decimal<\/a>\nor\n\nLibrary of Congress<\/a>?”\nYour answer, “Let’s do both and let the user choose!”\n<\/P>\n \nImagine if there were a checkbox somewhere in the Control Panel\nthat let you specify how\nWindows XP-styled controls were implemented.\nYour choices are either to require applications to\nlink to a new DLG_WHATEVER DIALOG 36, 44, 230, 94\nSTYLE WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU |\n DS_MODALFRAME | DS_SHELLFONT\nCAPTION “Whatever”\nBEGIN\n#ifdef USE_METHODA\n CONTROL “Whatever”,IDC_WHATEVER,”UxButton”,\n BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_TABSTOP, 14,101,108,9\n#else\n CONTROL “Whatever”,IDC_WHATEVER,”Button”,\n BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_TABSTOP, 14,101,108,9\n#endif\n …\n<\/PRE>\n \nAt run time, every program would have to check this global setting\nand spawn off either the “Method A” binary or the “Method B” binary.\n<\/P>\n \nNow you might try to pack this all into a single binary with\nsomething like this:\n<\/P>\n if (GetSystemMetrics(SM_USEMANIFESTFORSTYLEDCONTROLS)) {\n DialogBox(hInstance,\n MAKEINTRESOURCE(DLG_TEMPLATE_WITH_OLDNAME_CONTROLS),\n …\n} else {\n DialogBox(hInstance,\n MAKEINTRESOURCE(DLG_TEMPLATE_WITH_UXCONTROLS),\n …\n}\n<\/PRE>\n \nBut it’s not actually that simple because a lot of decisions take\nplace even before your program starts running.\nFor example, if your program specifies a load-time link to\n \nOkay, so now you have two versions of every program.\nAnd you also have to decide what should happen if somebody\nwrites and ships a program that uses Method A exclusively,\neven when the system switch is set to Method B.\nDoes everything still work within that program as if Method A\nwere the system setting, while the rest of the system uses Method B?\n(If you go this route, then you’ve completely undermined the point\nof Method B.\nThe whole point of Method B is to allow programs that\nrely on specific class names to continue working,\nbut this rogue Method A program is running around using the\nwrong class names!)\n<\/P>\n \nNow the entire operating system and application compatibility work\nneeds to be done with the checkbox set both to Method A and to\nMethod B,\nbecause the compatibility impact of each of the methods is quite different.\nOkay, that’s double the work. Where is triple and quadruple?\n<\/P>\n \nWell, the two different versions of the program need to be kept in sync,\nsince you want them to behave identically.\nThis can of course be managed with judicious use of \nThe quadruple?\nI’m not sure, maybe the ongoing fragility of such a scheme,\nespecially one that, at the end of the day, is a choice between\ntwo things that have no real impact on the typical end user.\n<\/P>\n \nEngineering is about making tradeoffs.\nIf you refuse to make the choice,\nthen you’re taking the cowardly route\nand ultimately are creating more work for your team.\nInstead of solving problems, you’re creating them<\/I>.\n<\/P>\n \nAll because you’re too chicken to make a hard decision.\n<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Cultural note: The phrase the mating call of the loser is a term of derision. I used it here to create a more provocative headline even though it’s stronger than I really intended, but good writing is bold.) When given a choice between two architectures, some people say that you should give users a checkbox […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":111744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-19153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oldnewthing","tag-other"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":" (Cultural note: The phrase the mating call of the loser is a term of derision. I used it here to create a more provocative headline even though it’s stronger than I really intended, but good writing is bold.) When given a choice between two architectures, some people say that you should give users a checkbox […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}UxCtrl.DLL<\/CODE> (let’s call this Method A)\nor to link to COMCTL32.DLL<\/CODE> with a custom manifest\n(let’s call this Method B).\nWell, it means that every component that wanted styled common controls\nwould have to come in two versions,\none that linked to UxCtrl<\/CODE> and used the new class names\nin its dialog boxes and calls to CreateWindow<\/CODE>,\nand one that used a manifest and continued to use the class names\nunder their old names.\n<\/P>\n\n#ifdef USE_METHODA\n hwnd = CreateWindow(TEXT(“UxButton”), …);\n#else\n hwnd = CreateWindow(TEXT(“Button”), …);\n#endif<\/p>\n
\nif (GetSystemMetrics(SM_USEMANIFESTFORSTYLEDCONTROLS)) {\n hwnd = CreateWindow(TEXT(“Button”), …);\n} else {\n hwnd = CreateWindow(TEXT(“UxButton”), …);\n}\n…<\/p>\nUXCTRL.DLL<\/CODE>, then that DLL will get loaded before your\nprogram even runs, even if the system switch is set to use Method B.\nA single-binary program that tries to choose between the two methods\nat runtime will have to do some activation context juggling\nand delay-loading.\nHardly a slam dunk.\n<\/P>\n#ifdef<\/CODE>s\nor runtime branches.\nBut you have to remember both ways of doing things\nand be mindful of the two method each time you modify the program.\nSomebody else might come in and “fix a little bug”\nor “add a little feature” to your program,\nunaware of how your program manages the shuffle of Method A\nversus Method B.\nThe mental effort necessary to remember two different ways of doing\nthe same thing plus having to expend that effort to correct mistakes\nin the code, that’s the triple.\n<\/P>\n