Rethinking libraries and frameworks Using the platform doesn’t mean leaving libraries and frameworks behind; it just means making them lighter, and designing them to complement the strengths of the platform itself. At their best, libraries and frameworks make our jobs easier. They provide off-the-shelf solutions for hard problems; broadly applicable abstractions that save us from reinventing the wheel; and useful patterns and constraints to help us structure our apps intelligently and avoid shooting ourselves in the foot. The challenge is to achieve these benefits while minimizing the weight of our solutions and making the most of what the platform provides. Within this problem space, as always, there’s plenty of room for innovation and opinion. For our part, we aim to treat the platform as the framework, adding value in the form of lightweight, optional “sugaring” of platform APIs; loosely coupled, interoperable modules; and effective patterns for composing components and applications from smaller building blocks. https://www.polymer-project.or...