The LEGO concept - a role model for modern IT architectures (?)

When doing some (professional) researches on SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), I ran across this interesting article. It illustrates how a modern approach to build enterprise systems might benefit from the LEGO analogy.

Now everyone will be able to explain to non-technical people what SOA is henceforth (and moreover, why LEGO in fact isn't a toy (only)) ;-)

Comments

Anonymous said…
This weekend, I will try to do a article with the matter. This is my IT field.

Best Regards.

Juan Antonio Breña Moral
http://www.juanantonio.info
An interesting article - not too deep on actual concepts but the theory is sound. I remember an old programming course at University where I was introduced to Object Oriented Programming and thinking how cool the ultimate concept was but ultimately becoming disappointed that the class could never actually use it to build programs that operated properly together (we all had our own ideas of OOP and how it should be implemented).

I've ALWAYS wondered why my high school Chemistry teacher never used LEGO in the classroom to demonstrate certain concepts... likewise, Physics could also benefit from using the blocks. What else? Well, as an English major also, I remember how boring learning sentence structure and all those other literary devices (allegory, hyperbole, etc.) could be demonstrated using colored LEGO bricks... okay, maybe that's a stretch, but most of us, I think, learn the best VISUALLY. Color, shape, and other characteristics that can be seen by the eye all help memory form (plus sound, but LEGO pieces have yet to make noise other than motors and bricks) and stick... concepts we learn might stay with us a lot longer (I can't remember 95% of my chemistry material, but I can tell you the color of the different NXT components in my favorite bot).

Sorry for the ramble... good article reference, Matthias.

Jim
Unknown said…
Jim,

I'm entirely of your way of thinking.
Actually, I do not remember much of my Physics lessons (maybe that's the reason why I've indulged into Pure Mathematics later on), but even today I can tell the sort of shirts our Physics teacher had been wearing. ;-)

Reminds me of the concepts of Montessori pedagogy - I wonder if that has made its way over the pond?

/Matthias
Oh, yes... Montessori schools are very popular in the USA.

Jim
Robotica said…
See I was right, at my former job I was a technical trainer for SOA. so it all fits :)

I always compared our software with a LEGO box, and I said we have to deliver the same:
- a box, with a cover that is similar to the content
- all the necessary pieces
- a manual that is correct, and breaks down the integration in easy steps.

I also used the fact that the LEGO-brick is the smallest unbreakable component, and for that we always need to look for those before we start troubleshooting.

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