Creating Truly Modular Code with No Dependencies

The article says software slows down over time because components become tightly connected, so a change in one place can create bugs somewhere else. It contrasts the big ball of mud with an element architecture that separates complexity into independent parts.

Reading notes

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• Software development often starts fast, then slows as dependency chains grow and changes become harder to predict.
• The “big ball of mud” is described as an anti-pattern where classes depend on each other throughout the codebase.
• Interfaces and inversion of control are presented as a way to separate components without making them aware of each other.
• The article argues that dependency injection still leaves components linked through interfaces and does not remove the core dependency problem.
• The proposed element pattern uses a main class and a listener interface, with the element allowed to call outward only through the listener.
• In the example, the element stays independent of how output is implemented, so the same element can be reused in different applications.
• For larger applications, the suggested structure splits code into client and server, then into app and elements folders.
• The app folder wires components together and holds business logic, while the elements folder contains reusable independent pieces.
• The article presents this separation as a way to keep code maintainable and reusable across projects.