Frameworks and third-party tools

Question

Let us suppose we'd like to use very helpful framework (for example ORM or UI framework), that in general matches you requirements, but requires installing and using third-party tool like PostSharp (tool, that implements AOP modifying compiled code on post-build stage) or something like this.

On the one hand it can significantly improve your productivity, but on other hand it brings additional dependences and uncertainty.

Do you think that such peculiarity is significant disadvantage of the framework or it is not an issue? Will you use this framework or not?

Answer 1

Depends. If productivity improvement is the goal of the organization, then taking on the risk is unavoidable. Maybe there's an alternative framework that offers similar productivity benefits but minimizes the risk dependency and uncertainty?

Answer 2

It depends of course. (hmmm. maybe I should become a consultant.)

Almost all frameworks have some dependencies, usually these are packaged with the framework and as long as you just check in the right dll's with the code and package them with your binaries there's no problem.
Having a dependency on something like Postsharp might be a little more problematic. Postsharp requires additional build steps for the post-compiler so this will complicate installing buildservers, or additional development workstations quite a bit and it will add possible points of failure to your build process.

I'd try a couple of things.

Try to estimate gains and losses of using the framework. Eventually it always comes down to return on investment.

See if you can find other frameworks that give you the same functionality without complicating the build-process.

If you go with this framework try to abstract it away. Try to reduce your dependence on it as much as possible. You can even try to package it into a wrapper-assembly so you can use it without recompiling all the time. Of course this can be hard depending on how you have to interface with the framework. This will give you some control over how much it impacts your process and how much it will cost you to switch to an alternative framework in the future.