- Author
- Alex Papadimoulis, founder of The Daily WTF
- Published
- 21 April 2006
- Kind
- Short blog article naming an antipattern, with one code example
- Original
- thedailywtf.com/articles/The_Inner-Platform_Effect
- Subject
- Software design
What it is
Papadimoulis, founder of The Daily WTF, names an antipattern after reading a reader's submission. The post notes it is rare. The post describes a loan-origination system with a Data Structure Modeler.
What it says
- The post names the Inner-Platform Effect as an antipattern.
- It arises when a system becomes a poor copy of its platform through customization.
- The result is too complicated for end users, so only programmers can change it.
- The example is a loan system that rebuilt tables and fields inside a database.
- The client only wanted a new form field, which is why Mario was brought in.
What evidence it gives
The evidence is one reader's story from a loan system. Three code snippets with SQL queries touch tables, fields and field values. The post claims the pattern is rare and offers no count.
Interests and limits
The article is short and rests on a single anecdote. The Daily WTF publishes humorous bad-code stories, and the account comes from a reader submission. The page's comment thread was not read. The post gives no remedy.