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I've seen a lot of other framework/library developers throw the phrase 'we write opinionated software' around, but in practical terms, what does that really mean? Does it mean that the author of the 'Opinionated Framework X' says that because they write code a certain way, you should be writing the same type of code that they write?

Isn't that a bit pretentious?

yannis
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plaureano
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3 Answers3

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The framework imposes a certain way of working on you. Put another way, there's clearly one right way of using the framework which is nice and easy, and any other way of using the framework makes your life difficult.

I'm no Rails expert, but I'm told that it's opinionated because it's awesome for simple CRUD stuff, but when you try deviate from the "Rails way" things get tough. (This isn't necessarily a bad thing; I don't mean it as criticism.)

Frank Shearar
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5

The framework is saying "I know the one true way to do this thing, and I'll fight you if you try it any other way". Opinionated.

AShelly
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0

You know that expression, "there's more than one way to skin a cat"?

If one way is significantly easier than all the others, it's opinionated.

If all ways require roughly equal level of effort, it's unopinionated.

Note:

  • being opinionated is not necessarily a conscious decision
  • from a certain point of view, "opinions" may look indistinguishable from "just makes sense"
  • opinions make google/stack overflow easier since it's more likely someone else will have encountered the same problems and have a solution that works for you
333kenshin
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