The Growth of Component Retailers

by Paul Harmon

Software theorists have been talking about developing new software applications with reusable components for a long time. The idea is obvious: why develop new code when you can simply snap together already available components that provide the needed functionality. An analogy is usually made, claiming that the amazing successes of computer hardware depend on the existence of standards and hardware components. Compaq, so the story goes, doesn't build computers. It designs computers and then assembles them from component parts acquired from a catalog. Those who make this argument then proceed to wonder why we don't do the same thing with software applications.