Build-time configuration and environment assumptions are hampering progress and usability in scientific software. That which would be utterly unacceptable in non-scientific software somehow passes for the norm in scientific packages. The community needs reusable software packages that are easy use and flexible enough to accommodate next-generation simulation and analysis demands.
@article{arxiv.1407.2905,
title = {Run-time extensibility and librarization of simulation software},
author = {Jed Brown and Matthew G. Knepley and Barry F. Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1407.2905},
year = {2014}
}