From custom applications to domain-specific frameworks
Wim Codenie, Koen De Hondt, Patrick Steyaert, Arlette Vercammen · Communications of the ACM · 1997
As a provider of broadcast planning Software for television stations, programmers have to create highly customized software while maintaining the quality standards of an off-the-shelf product. Framework technology plays a strategic role in our business, because there are many similarities in the complex broadcast planning processes of different stations, yet a standard product would satisfy only 70% to 80% of the needs of a typical station. Thanks to frameworks, customers can be offered a standard product that is easily customizable by a small team of software engineers in a cost-effective way. Moreover, the adaptive nature of frameworks provides another advantage; like any other business, television stations need to respond to new and rapidly changing market opportunities. They are faced with rapidly evolving hardware and rapid evolution of their product. These changes require more malleable software. For broadcasters, the ability to cope with change more efficiently than from similar off-the-shelf applications results in a competitive advantage.