Core Values

Every line of code that goes into MergeTB at any level, from low level systems code to DevOps automation should reflect the following values

Simplicity

Many of the problems that Merge deals with are inherently complex. What striving for simplicity means, is taking the time to understand the problem space you are working in, identifying where the inherent complexities are, designing solutions that contain the inherent complexity and provide simple easy to use interfaces to other parts of the system.

Evolution

As a testbed platform, the role of MergeTB in the world is to provide a place where the research and development community can understand the structure and behavior of today's interconnected world and reach toward tomorrow through experimentation. To do this effectively the MergeTB platform must be able to evolve at the pace of technology. Concretely, this means that the way experiments are expressed, realized and materialized must remain technology agnostic . MergeTB provides a conduit for experimenters to access, provision and use resources - but does not pre-determine what those resources are. In effect, this means touch points with new technologies are added by experimenters and resource providers and not MergeTB developers.

Reliability

Think of MergeTB like you would a pair of ski bindings. When your ski bindings are good, the fact that they are even there rarely if ever crosses your mind, even though they serve such a critical function. They just do their job and allow you to enjoy skiing. MergeTB should be like a good pair of ski bindings, allow users to focus on the often intrinsically difficult task of developing networked systems experiments, and never think about the set of testbeds underpinning their experiment. Thus when working on Merge systems the mindset should be one of preventing failure in the first place, or at the very least of automatic recovery.

Speed

Developing networked systems experiments has traditionally been a difficult and time consuming task. It will remain difficult in many cases for the foreseeable future, but it does not have to be intrinsically time consuming. One of the initial things MergeTB did to support rapid experimentation was to separate the realization of experiments from materialization. Allowing users to rapidly define the constraints that create a viable validity domain for their experiment. Follow on work brought experiment validity checkers and reticulators. These architectural features of MergeTB save the user large amounts of time by establishing correctness as early as possible. When working on Merge systems always think about how the design of what you are doing relates to the tempo of experimentation.