softcode

softcode

English

Etymology

soft +‎ code, modelled on earlier hard code.

Verb

softcode (third-person singular simple present softcodes, present participle softcoding, simple past and past participle softcoded)

1. (programming) To construct a program in a way which ensures that certain values and methods of operation are adjustable at run time.
   • 1992, John W. O. Brinkworth, Software quality management: a pro-active approach →ISBN

     Keep things soft (as in softcoding) wherever possible. Visit a lawyer and make 'parameterisation' your middle name; it'll sound good at parties, and changes to the system will be far less painful.

   • 1997, Barbara L. Maia Goldstein, Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers, Plug and play software for agile manufacturing, SPIE-International Society for Optical Engineering

     Best of breed component approaches are better supported because of the softcoding of much of the factory model and integration logic.

   • 1999, Steven Feuerstein, Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features, O'Reilly Media, Inc. →ISBN, page 76

     I have used this technique to build very flexible code generators, softcoded calculation engines for users, and much more.

   • 2004, Dave Minter, Jeff Linwood, Building Portals with the Java Portlet API, Apress →ISBN, page 289

     […] you will need to consider the business requirements first, and only then encode them in your application. Let's discuss two approaches to this: the traditional “hardcoded” technique and the “softcoded” rules-based approach.

   • 2010, Michael Blaha, Patterns of Data Modeling, CRC Press →ISBN, page 175

     Given the rationale for softcoding, it is clear that you should softcode attributes that may not be known until run time. For simplicity and improved performance, you can hardcode attributes that are certain.

Antonyms

• hardcode