Lesson plan
Magic pushbutton
The magic pushbutton is a common anti-pattern in graphical user interfaces. At its core, the anti-pattern consists of a system partitioned into two parts: user interface and business logic, that are coupled through a single point, clicking the "magic pushbutton" or submitting a form of data. As it is a single point interface, this interface becomes over-complicated to implement. The temporal coupling of these units is a major problem: every interaction in the user interface must happen before the pushbutton is pressed, business logic can only be applied after the button was pressed. Cohesion of each unit also tends to be poor: features are bundled together whether they warrant this or not, simply because there is no other structured place in which to put them.
Article summary
The magic pushbutton is a common anti-pattern in graphical user interfaces. At its core, the anti-pattern consists of a system partitioned into two parts: user interface and business logic, that are coupled through a single point, clicking the "magic pushbutton" or submitting a form of data. As it is a single point interface, this interface becomes over-complicated to implement. The temporal coupling of these units is a major problem: every interaction in the user interface must happen before the pushbutton is pressed, business logic can only be applied after the button was pressed. Cohesion of each unit also tends to be poor: features are bundled together whether they warrant this or not, simply because there is no other structured place in which to put them.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.