Software Engineering

Metaphors used in the practice of building and maintaining software systems.

Entries (257)

• A La Minute metaphor
• A Place to Wait metaphor
• A Room of One's Own pattern
• Accessible Green pattern
• Accidental Complexity metaphor
• Action at a Distance metaphor
• Activity Nodes pattern
• Agent Swarm metaphor
• AI Is a Copilot metaphor
• AI Is a Pair Programmer metaphor
• AI Is a Spell Checker metaphor
• AI Is an Agent metaphor
• Alcoves pattern
• All Day metaphor
• Ansible Is Instant Communication metaphor
• Attack Surface metaphor
• Audit Trails Are Forensic Footprints metaphor
• Baklava Code metaphor
• Best Carpenters Make the Fewest Chips mental-model
• Big Ball of Mud metaphor
• Bikeshedding metaphor
• Boat Anchor metaphor
• Boil the Ocean metaphor
• Bottleneck metaphor
• Bounded Context pattern
• Breadcrumb Trail metaphor
• Brooks's Law mental-model
• Bug metaphor
• Building Complex pattern
• Building Edge pattern
• Bus Factor metaphor
• Business Ecosystem metaphor
• Cargo Cult Programming metaphor
• Cascade of Roofs pattern
• Cathedral and Bazaar metaphor
• Cease Dependence on Inspection mental-model
• Ceiling Height Variety pattern
• Chain of Responsibility pattern
• Chesterton's Fence mental-model
• Circuit Breaker pattern
• Circulation Realms pattern
• Cleaning As You Go pattern
• Cloud metaphor
• Code Is Compressed Thought metaphor
• Code Smell metaphor
• Coming to Zero mental-model
• Computer Mouse metaphor
• Connected Buildings pattern
• Connection to the Earth metaphor
• Conway's Law mental-model
• Cookie metaphor
• Daemon metaphor
• Daemon Is a Background Spirit metaphor
• Dashboard metaphor
• Data Flow Is Fluid Flow paradigm
• Data Stream metaphor
• Databases Are Warehouses metaphor
• Dead Code metaphor
• Dead Man's Switch metaphor
• Dead Plate metaphor
• Deep Magic metaphor
• Deep Reveals metaphor
• Degrees of Publicness pattern
• Different Chairs pattern
• Divide and Conquer mental-model
• Dogfooding metaphor
• Drinking the Kool-Aid metaphor
• Duck Typing metaphor
• Easter Egg metaphor
• Entrance Transition pattern
• Escape Route metaphor
• Expo pattern
• Facade pattern
• Failure Isolation Is Quarantine metaphor
• Fallacies of Distributed Computing mental-model
• Family of Entrances pattern
• Fear-Driven Development metaphor
• Filtered Light pattern
• Firewall metaphor
• Five Whys mental-model
• Flexible Office Space pattern
• Form Follows Function metaphor
• Four-Story Limit pattern
• Framework metaphor
• Front of House / Back of House metaphor
• Garbage Collection metaphor
• Garden Growing Wild pattern
• Gas Town archetype
• God Object metaphor
• Golden Hammer metaphor
• Good Materials pattern
• Gradual Stiffening metaphor
• Half-Hidden Garden pattern
• Half-Private Office pattern
• Hands pattern
• Heisenbug metaphor
• Hierarchy of Open Space pattern
• Hofstadter's Law mental-model
• Hydra Code metaphor
• Hyrum's Law mental-model
• Identifiable Neighborhood pattern
• In the Weeds metaphor
• Inspect and Correct mental-model
• Intimacy Gradient metaphor
• Jenga Code metaphor
• Jig metaphor
• Kanban paradigm
• Kernel metaphor
• Kernighan's Law mental-model
• KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) mental-model
• Knock-Down Joint metaphor
• Lava Flow metaphor
• Law of Leaky Abstractions mental-model
• Less Is More metaphor
• Let the Tool Do the Work mental-model
• Light on Two Sides metaphor
• Magic Number metaphor
• Main Entrance metaphor
• Main Gateways pattern
• Messages Are Physical Mail metaphor
• Microservices Are Biological Cells metaphor
• Microservices Are City Districts metaphor
• Middle-Out Compression metaphor
• Monkey-Patching metaphor
• Mortise and Tenon metaphor
• Murphy's Law mental-model
• Natural Doors and Windows pattern
• Necromancy metaphor
• Negative Space metaphor
• Negative Space Is as Important as Positive Space pattern
• Ninety-Nine Percent Done mental-model
• On the Fly metaphor
• Open Stairs pattern
• Ornament pattern
• Orphan Process metaphor
• Oxbow Lake metaphor
• Palantir metaphor
• Parasitic Architecture metaphor
• Patch metaphor
• Paths and Goals pattern
• Pattern Language as Shared Vocabulary paradigm
• Permission Delegation Is Genetic Inheritance metaphor
• Piecemeal Growth metaphor
• Planning Is Prime mental-model
• Platform metaphor
• Pools of Light pattern
• Positive Outdoor Space pattern
• Postel's Law mental-model
• Prep metaphor
• Process Fork metaphor
• Production Data Is Food metaphor
• Program Failure Is Bodily Failure metaphor
• Prompt Engineering Is Programming metaphor
• Proof by Exhaustion metaphor
• Prototype mental-model
• Quiet Backs pattern
• Race Condition metaphor
• Ralph Wiggum Loop archetype
• Rehearsal Is Not Performance metaphor
• Roles Are Theatrical Costumes metaphor
• Rubber Duck Debugging metaphor
• Rubber Duck Solution pattern
• Sandbox metaphor
• Scattered Work pattern
• Second-System Effect mental-model
• Secret Place pattern
• Security Violations Are Trespassing metaphor
• Services Are Autonomous Workers metaphor
• Shell metaphor
• Sheltering Roof pattern
• Shim metaphor
• Short Passages pattern
• Shotgun Debugging metaphor
• Silver Bullet metaphor
• Single Point of Failure mental-model
• Site Repair pattern
• Skunkworks metaphor
• Small Panes metaphor
• Small Services Without Red Tape pattern
• Software Development Is a Bazaar metaphor
• Software Development Is Cathedral Building metaphor
• Software Habitability metaphor
• Software Peter Principle metaphor
• Software Rot metaphor
• Spaghetti Code metaphor
• Spam metaphor
• Spike metaphor
• Staging Environment metaphor
• Standardized Work mental-model
• Strangler Fig pattern
• Street Windows pattern
• Structure Follows Social Spaces pattern
• Supply Chain Attack metaphor
• System Administration Is Feudal Lordship metaphor
• Tapestry of Light and Dark pattern
• Technical Bankruptcy metaphor
• Technical Debt metaphor
• Technical Decisions Are Judicial Rulings metaphor
• Technical Decisions Are Territory metaphor
• Tesler's Law mental-model
• The Abstract Factory Pattern archetype
• The Adapter Pattern archetype
• The Bridge Pattern pattern
• The Builder Pattern archetype
• The Chain of Responsibility Pattern archetype
• The Command Pattern archetype
• The Composite Pattern archetype
• The Decorator Pattern archetype
• The Facade Pattern archetype
• The Factory Pattern archetype
• The Flow Through Rooms pattern
• The Flyweight Pattern pattern
• The Gateway Pattern archetype
• The Interpreter Pattern archetype
• The Iterator Pattern metaphor
• The Mediator Pattern archetype
• The Memento Pattern archetype
• The Observer Pattern archetype
• The Persona archetype
• The Pipeline Pattern archetype
• The Prototype Pattern archetype
• The Proxy Pattern archetype
• The Quality Without a Name metaphor
• The Registry Pattern archetype
• The Repository Pattern archetype
• The Shadow archetype
• The Singleton Pattern archetype
• The State Pattern metaphor
• The Strategy Pattern archetype
• The Template Method Pattern archetype
• The Unit of Work Pattern archetype
• The Visitor Pattern archetype
• Thick Walls pattern
• Things from Your Life pattern
• Ticket Rail metaphor
• Tongue and Groove metaphor
• Tool Use Is Physical Manipulation metaphor
• Tooling Up metaphor
• Total Utilization mental-model
• Training Wheels metaphor
• Unix Shell metaphor
• Vestigial Structure metaphor
• Virus metaphor
• Voodoo Programming metaphor
• Web metaphor
• Window Place pattern
• Windows Overlooking Life metaphor
• Work Community pattern
• Work in Progress metaphor
• Workmanship of Certainty paradigm
• Workmanship of Risk paradigm
• Workspace Enclosure pattern
• Worse Is Better paradigm
• Yak Shaving metaphor
• Yo-Yo Problem metaphor
• Zen View pattern
• Zombie Process metaphor