Re: Basic books on OOA&D

From: Shane Mingins (shanemingins_at_yahoo.com.clothes)
Date: 10/16/03 

Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:17:22 +1300

Hi

I can only recommend books I have read ;-)

I found Agile Software Development (Principles, Patterns, and Practices) -
Robert C. Martin great! I am constantly referring to it. Code examples are
in a mixture of Java & C++ If one of your requirements is wanting further
explanation on the GOF patterns then grab this book.

I found OOSC - Bertrand Meyer a difficult read. It was the first OO book I
read. I am not sure (after a year of other reading) if I would find it
easier now or not. This is obviously only my experience.

Object Design - Wirfs-Brock/McKean was excellent for looking at designing
objects with specific roles and responsibilities. This book is lanaguage
indpendent but where needed, Java code is used in some places to illustrate
points.

I have just "skim-read" Applying UML and Patterns (An Introduction to
Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process) - Craig Larman.
This book is Martin Fowler's first choice as a book introducing OO design.
I skimmed the chapters that were explaining UML notation and UP specific but
enjoyed the chapters that detail an approach to OO design.

He uses the GRASP patterns which I had not heard of. Quote - "The GRASP
patterns are a learning aid to help one understand essential object design,
and apply design reasoning in a methodical, rational, explainable way.This
approach to understanding and using design principles is based on patterns
of assigning responsibilities." Again lanaguage indpendent with Java is
used to illustrate points.

Refactoring - Martin Fowler is a "must have" book at some stage. It details
refactorings which are techiques for improving the design of your code
without changing it's external behaviour. Java code used for all examples.

A book that looks like it will be really good reading (when published) is
Refactoring To Patterns - Joshua Kerievsk. A draft (work-in-progress) is
available here http://www.industriallogic.com/xp/refactoring/

Another two I would recommend on Test Driven Development (TDD) are Test
Driven Development by Example - Kent Beck and Test Driven Development: A
Practical Guide - David Astels.

Currently I am reading Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture -
Martin Fowler which at first glance looks filled with pearls of wisdom
specific to Enterprise Applications if that ever is a field you end up in
:-)

Now having read all these books I am still struggling daily with how to put
some of all this together. Luckily there is this newsgroup and lots of
helpful experts providing answers and opinions to my basic questions. If
you can at all hook up with someone who is prepared to mentor you grab that
opportunity!

HTH
Shane

BTW, on a recent discussion on comp.software.extreme-programming Robert C.
Martin had this to say ---

"IMHO TDD is a discipline that should be taught to programmers before their
first programming language. It should be ingrained in each of us. We
should cringe at the prospect of writing code without a failing test case,
and without an acceptance test. For me, it is a matter of professional
honor."

As a student you have an opportunity to begin this practice now rather than
later :-)

In a recent article by Scott Ambler
http://www.sdmagazine.com/documents/s=8939/sdm0311f/sdm0311f.html the
following research was mentioned:

"Hakan Erdogmus of the National Research Council Canada described the work
that he did with Maurizio Morisio, Marco Torchiano and Andrea Capiluppi of
Politecnico di Torino in Italy comparing test-first and "test-last"
development. It found that the test-first group, once again students, was 70
percent more productive than the group following a traditional approach. The
test-first group also wrote 60 percent more tests than the test-last group,
implying that the test-first mindset instilled greater discipline and thus
led to greater productivity. Interestingly, on the final exam, the students
reverted to a test-last approach, indicating that the culture shift required
to adopt agile approaches is longer than a single school term." 

-- 
shanemingins@yahoo.com.clothes
remove clothes before replying
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." --- Charles Darwin
"Jacob Atzen" <jacob@aub.dk> wrote in message
news:877k35favp.fsf@morpheus.aub.dk...
> Hi,
>
> I'm a comp. sci. student with a bit of real world experience on
> top. I've been programming PHP the last couple of years in a more or
> less object oriented manner. I know the basics, classes, interfaces,
> inheritance, polymorphism, etc.
>
> All the time I've felt like I'm not doing this whole OOP thing
> right. Yes, I got objects, inheritance and the likes. But my OOA&D
> skills are getting too limited when dealing with larger projects.
>
> Recently I read the GOF book. It was a real eye opener to me even
> though I haven't begun really using the patterns yet.
>
> I've also been reading random articles around the net on OOA&D but it
> seems too fragmented and I would like a more thorough walkthrough on
> the subject.
>
> So the question is: Where should I start?
>
> As inspiring as the GOF book is, I feel I need a more high level
> reference of the analysis and design process of small- to mediumsized
> projects. I've browsed Amazon and came across Agile Software
> Development which seems to match my wishes and also Meyer's OO
> Software Constrution. Would these be a good starting point or should I
> look somewhere else?
>
> -- 
> Thank you,
> - Jacob Atzen

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