Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Unleashed

The Extensibility Problem

Before getting into the architecture and code level details of MEF, it is useful to understand the problem or question that MEF is trying to answer. Put simply, that question is how can developers allow their applications to be easily extended by others, or conversely how can developers extend existing applications in a simple way?

There are a variety of hurdles that have to be overcome in this space. For instance, how can an application be open for extensions, and yet closed so that its core functionality can’t be usurped against the intentions of its designers? What developers are really after is a consistent solution that enables dynamic applications to be created, and thus enables other developers to extend those ...