Software Best Practices

Steve, That's a good list, and thanks for including other writing on the topic. Knowing different paradigms hadn't occurred to me. I don't have a broad range of paradigms but it makes sense. I've developed client/server information systems for many years and have experience in data and...

[This is an expansion of one of my comments on an earlier Technical Debt post ] When you get to a point where you are debating taking on technical debt, people normally consider two possible paths, one of which is the "good but expensive" path and the other of which is the "quick and dirty"...

The term "technical debt" was coined by Ward Cunningham to describe the obligation that a software organization incurs when it chooses a design or construction approach that's expedient in the short term but that increases complexity and is more costly in the long term. Ward didn't...

Earl wrote "So the trick is, I think, is knowing what are you asked to solve. Design them becomes the process of making decisions about that." I think that is the hardest part of software development. I do consulting so, until I get to know my client I have no idea what their business is about...

Software design as a verb and the outcome of such action, software design as a noun , have been quite interesting to cogitate about for some years now. One remarkable thing keeps on constant along the way: practicing software design is an exciting, exhilarating, electrifying activity. There are sound...

Quite a challenging task: to delineate and to set the limits of the essential quality for software design. Why do we need to define something? Perhaps to understand it, and then explain it, and then reflect on it as we move ahead. Let’s say: Software design is a solution for a problem in a given context...

Some additional thoughts I'd throw onto the good ideas in this thread: Shared Understanding . A big part of design is about achieving a shared understanding of how the system will be constructed by those who will be doing the construction. The nature, depth, detail, structure, timeline, and formality...

Hi Scarnegie, Welcome to the Conversation! Whoa! Don't get me started on this one :-) I mostly agree Shahid on this one. However, I don't find the answer as useful as it could be. Let's try to take it a bit farther. Earl Definition : Design is the decisions made about what you are asked to...

Software Design is an answer to the user requirements -- most probably the problem -- with well defined boundaries. Software Design is an answer in terms of "How to do ..." to address the problematic area.

Let’s start with definitions of software design, or at least attempts. Definition #1: Software design is a strategy to reduce the complexity of problem. Definition #2: Software design is an arrangement of a million moving parts into something that will make sense in a year from now. Definition #3: Software...