Most, if not all of the food packaging at our local grocery store was designed for transport.
Chip bags include large volumes of air so the chips aren't crushed in shipping. Juice boxes are bundled in groups of ten to make moving them from box to shelf faster. Coffee beans are sealed in an air tight bag with a one-way valve to allow gas to escape so that beans can be bagged immediately after roasting.
Some food itself was designed for transport. Beef jerky and pocket pies exist because we needed food on the go.
Not all of this is good, however. The need for transport has led to chemical preservatives being used - formaldehyde in our frozen vegetables, arsenic in our chicken, sodium nitrate in our lunch meant. Trans fats were invented to be solid at higher temperatures and last longer on the shelf; making them easier to transport, but one of the worst things we can put in our bodies.
In software, we design for transport as well. Data may be moved from relational databases to hierarchal XML documents to strongly typed objects before touching the glass of the user's screen. We have many tools to aid the transport and preserve the information, but we must use them with an eye on the end user. We cannot allow the tools to add unwanted flavors to the data, to force it's shape, or make it toxic.
Food scientists have decades in which to slowly kill the customer though chemicals designed for transport - software developers don't have such a cushion.
Posted By Mike On Tuesday, April 08, 2008
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