deanebarker

I'm interested in the patterns and practices behind extending software. You know: extensions, plugins, add-ons, etc. -- the systems and features that software (usually enterprise software) provides so that users and extend it to do things it wasn't originally intended to do.

Is there a generally accepted name of category for this? I searched Amazon for some books on "software extensibilty" or "extending software," but didn't find anything outside of platform-specific books.

Ink and Switch has done a lot of research lately on what they called "malleable software," but that's a new term they invented, and doesn't have much traction.

I wrote this article for my work -- this is type of thing I've talking about: is there a name for the body of work/study around this type of thing?

https://staffbase.com/blog/integration-patterns

My home networking gear is, like, 20 years ago -- some old cable model and wifi router. I've literally done nothing with it.

I need to upgrade.

Has anything fundamentally changed here? Any tricks and tips to getting longer range on the wifi (the kids complain that it's spotty upstairs).

I get generative AI. I understand the concept of an LLM and how it generates text. AI output processing seems relatively clear to me.

What I don't understand is how ChatGPT (or whatever) understands what I write. No matter how I phrase it, or how subtle or abstract the point or problem is, AI usually always figures out what I mean. I am mystified and constantly amazed at AI input processing.

What mechanism is at work here? If I want to deep dive on how AI understands meaning, what technology or concept do I need to research?

It's an old ThinkPad T431s. i7 / 16GB RAM