Convention over Configuration (CoC) is a software development principle that emphasizes the use of conventions, or defaults, to configure software components and reduce the need for manual configuration.
The idea behind CoC is that software developers can save time and reduce the potential for errors by relying on a set of pre-established conventions, rather than configuring each component of a system manually. This allows developers to focus on building the unique features and functionality of their application, rather than getting bogged down in repetitive configuration tasks.
In practice, this might mean that a software framework or tool has a set of default configurations and naming conventions that work out-of-the-box for most applications. For example, a web application framework might have a default configuration for routing requests to specific controllers or views, rather than requiring developers to define each route manually.
CoC is often associated with the Ruby on Rails framework, which was one of the first to popularize the principle. However, it has since been adopted by many other software frameworks and tools in a variety of programming languages and platforms.
Mr. Arch Brooks, Software Engineer, Brooks Computing Systems, LLC authored this article.