Vertical Integration

Citation: Matthew Turk (2015/01) Vertical Integration. Computing in Science & Engineering (RSS)
DOI (original publisher): 10.1109/mcse.2015.27
Semantic Scholar (metadata): 10.1109/mcse.2015.27
Sci-Hub (fulltext): 10.1109/mcse.2015.27
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Vertical Integration
Download: https://doi.org/10.1109/mcse.2015.27
Tagged: Computer Science (RSS)

Summary

Vertical integration, in the context of research software, means including multiple layers of the stack into one product. Advantages: when one layer changes, the integrated whole either does not update that layer or updates itself to be compatible with the new layer; The integrated whole never breaks. (Editors note: Version pinning (e.g. through Nix) yields the same benefit, without increasing the coupling between layers.) Disadvantage: Layers may be worse because then popular generic counterparts. Sage is vertically integrated, providing the language, Python libraries, C libraries, and programming interface all together.