Software Design

"System Design, is one that as a profession we talk about less than I believe we should. It is, in many ways, the most important and most difficult thing that we engineers attempt to do. I believe that we avoid talking about it because it is hard, and seems somehow “unscientific.” There are clearly some designs that are good and others that are not. But the judgment of how good a design is often seems subjective or based on aesthetic principles rather than on the cold hard facts that we are engineers who pride ourselves on forming the basis for all that we do. I hope that this essay convinces some readers that the dichotomy between science and art or engineering and aesthetics is not clear, required, or even desirable. What we do must be grounded in fact, but it also needs to be grounded in taste. We should revel in that rather than trying to cover it up. It makes what we do more difficult, but also much more interesting."

-- Jim Waldo

I've been thinking a lot again, lately, about software design and how to teach it... and about how little there is out there to guide the design of good software architecture...

All part of my Quest After The Heart Of Design for the last 15 years. And maybe (just maybe!) I think I have a useful angle on it that might illuminate a path forward.

I'll say more as I develop the concept.

(And, BTW, Jim Waldo is, in my humble opinion, one of the preeminent thinkers on design alive, and one of the most interesting people I've had the privilege to meet.)