Module 3, Video 3

So it is a tremendous amount of
variability on the software.

Each of those have versions, each of those
have dependencies.

And each of those are tough to get
working on their own.

Now when it comes to the ecosystem of
dependencies,

it's pretty challenging.

Now when it comes to the machines that
they run on, a similar story takes place.

It used to be that there was just a
handful of machines.

But today, there's a tremendous ecosystem
of devices

that your code could potentially run on.

Everything from a variability of a single
user, to specialized machines,

to specialized clouds, to the big data
centers that a lot of businesses use.

And so when it comes down to it,

we have more complexity when it comes
to the software stack

and we have more complexity

when it comes to the hardware environment,
as well.

And so, if we were to create a matrix here

and we were to consider the web
scenario that we were thinking of,

there is this static website within
itself.

All of the different versions, all of the
different possibilities, the front end.

That on its own is tremendously
complex.

This is why the emergence of UX, the user
experience,

is so well-regarded in the market.

And if you went down that list,

you could see that there's a great deal
of complexity

to be able to provision when it comes to
the execution environment.

And down on the horizontal you have the
same.

You have a lot of devices in which your
code could potentially run.

And so how you could make all of this
work is very, very challenging.

Now the group that provided a solution

searched for a metaphor, searched
for a similar problem.

And they identified that of
shipping.

At one point in the world,

it was very hard to be able to send or
ship goods with predictability.

That means that for every type of car

and every type of shipment vehicle that
was possible,

there would have to be a lot of
configurations and customizations,

and it was a very tough thing to do.

In fact, this was one of the big problems

that the world was trying to solve
in the 1950s.

And they solved it.

They came up with a solution.

And the solution was the container.

And if you read some of the history,

there's many arguments that say that
this revolutionized the world,

and that it was on the back of this that
globalization happened,

and that it dropped the cost of shipping,

and that it made shipping more
predictable.

And there's a lot to be learned from that
journey.