Software Design For Flexibility

Strategies for building large systems that can be easily adapted for new situations with only minor programming modifications. Time pressures encourage programmers to write code that works well for a narrow purpose, with no room to grow. But the best systems are evolvable; they can be adapted for new situations by adding code, rather than changing the existing code. The authors describe techniques they have found effective--over their combined 100-plus years of programming experience--that will help programmers avoid programming themselves into corners. The authors explore ways to enhance flexibility by: Organizing systems using combinators to compose mix-and-match parts, ranging from small functions to whole arithmetics, with standardized interfaces Augmenting data with independent annotation layers, such as units of measurement or provenance Combining independent pieces of partial information using unification or propagation Separating control structure from problem domain with domain models, rule systems and pattern matching, propagation, and dependency-directed backtracking Extending the programming language, using dynamically extensible evaluators

A developer's knowledge of a computing system's requirements is necessarily imperfect because organizations change. Many requirements lie in the future and are unknowable at the time the system is designed and built. To avoid burdensome maintenance costs developers must therefore rely on a system's ability to change gracefully-its flexibility. Flex

An engaging, illustrated collection of insights revealing the practices and principles that expert software designers use to create great software. What makes an expert software designer? It is more than experience or innate ability. Expert software designers have specific habits, learned practices, and observed principles that they apply deliberately during their design work. This book offers sixty-six insights, distilled from years of studying experts at work, that capture what successful software designers actually do to create great software. The book presents these insights in a series of two-page illustrated spreads, with the principle and a short explanatory text on one page, and a drawing on the facing page. For example, “Experts generate alternatives” is illustrated by the same few balloons turned into a set of very different balloon animals. The text is engaging and accessible; the drawings are thought-provoking and often playful. Organized into such categories as “Experts reflect,” “Experts are not afraid,” and “Experts break the rules,” the insights range from “Experts prefer simple solutions” to “Experts see error as opportunity.” Readers learn that “Experts involve the user”; “Experts take inspiration from wherever they can”; “Experts design throughout the creation of software”; and “Experts draw the problem as much as they draw the solution.” One habit for an aspiring expert software designer to develop would be to read and reread this entertaining but essential little book. The insights described offer a guide for the novice or a reference for the veteran—in software design or any design profession. A companion web site provides an annotated bibliography that compiles key underpinning literature, the opportunity to suggest additional insights, and more.

A comprehensive guide to exploring software architecture concepts and implementing best practices Key Features Enhance your skills to grow your career as a software architect Design efficient software architectures using patterns and best practices Learn how software architecture relates to an organization as well as software development methodology Book Description The Software Architect’s Handbook is a comprehensive guide to help developers, architects, and senior programmers advance their career in the software architecture domain. This book takes you through all the important concepts, right from design principles to different considerations at various stages of your career in software architecture. The book begins by covering the fundamentals, benefits, and purpose of software architecture. You will discover how software architecture relates to an organization, followed by identifying its significant quality attributes. Once you have covered the basics, you will explore design patterns, best practices, and paradigms for efficient software development. The book discusses which factors you need to consider for performance and security enhancements. You will learn to write documentation for your architectures and make appropriate decisions when considering DevOps. In addition to this, you will explore how to design legacy applications before understanding how to create software architectures that evolve as the market, business requirements, frameworks, tools, and best practices change over time. By the end of this book, you will not only have studied software architecture concepts but also built the soft skills necessary to grow in this field. What you will learn Design software architectures using patterns and best practices Explore the different considerations for designing software architecture Discover what it takes to continuously improve as a software architect Create loosely coupled systems that can support change Understand DevOps and how it affects software architecture Integrate, refactor, and re-architect legacy applications Who this book is for The Software Architect’s Handbook is for you if you are a software architect, chief technical officer (CTO), or senior developer looking to gain a firm grasp of software architecture.

Efficiency is a crucial concern across computing systems, from the edge to the cloud. Paradoxically, even as the latencies of bottleneck components such as storage and networks have dropped by up to four orders of magnitude, software path lengths have progressively increased due to overhead from the very frameworks that have revolutionized the pace of information technology. Such overhead can be severe enough to overshadow the benefits from switching to new technologies like persistent memory and low latency interconnects. Resource Proportional Software Design for Emerging Systems introduces resource proportional design (RPD) as a principled approach to software component and system development that counters the overhead of deeply layered code without removing flexibility or ease of development. RPD makes resource consumption proportional to situational utility by adapting to diverse emerging needs and technology systems evolution. Highlights: Analysis of run-time bloat in deep software stacks, an under-explored source of power-performance wastage in IT systems Qualitative and quantitative treatment of key dimensions of resource proportionality Code features: Unify and broaden supported but optional features without losing efficiency Technology and systems evolution: Design software to adapt with changing trade-offs as technology evolves Data processing: Design systems to predict which subsets of data processed by an (analytics or ML) application are likely to be useful System wide trade-offs: Address interacting local and global considerations throughout software stacks and hardware including cross-layer co-design involving code, data and systems dimensions, and non-functional requirements such as security and fault tolerance Written from a systems perspective to explore RPD principles, best practices, models and tools in the context of emerging technologies and applications This book is primarily geared towards practitioners with some advanced topics for researchers. The principles shared in the book are expected to be useful for programmers, engineers and researchers interested in ensuring software and systems are optimized for existing and next generation technologies. The authors are from both industry (Bhattacharya and Voigt) and academic (Gopinath) backgrounds.

Software -- Software Engineering.

As the technology leader at a small software company, you need to focus on people, products, processes, and technology as you bring your software to market, while doing your best to put out fires and minimize headaches. Growing Software is your guide to juggling the day-to-day challenges of running a software company while managing those long-term problems and making sure that your business continues to grow. With practical, hands-on advice, Growing Software will teach you how to build and lead an effective team, define and sell your products, work with everyone from customers to CEOs, and ensure high-quality results. Instead of learning by trial and error, you'll benefit from author Louis Testa's 20+ years of management experience. Testa combines big-picture advice, specific solutions, and real-life anecdotes to teach you how to: –Work effectively with your CEO and executive team –Improve development team efficiency and enthusiasm –Evaluate your software methodology to improve effectiveness and safeguard against failure –Use product prototypes to bridge the gap between marketing and engineering –Defuse technology time bombs Whether you're new to managing software or newly lost, Growing Software will help you and your growing company thrive.

Good software design is simple and easy to understand. Unfortunately, the average computer program today is so complex that no one could possibly comprehend how all the code works. This concise guide helps you understand the fundamentals of good design through scientific laws—principles you can apply to any programming language or project from here to eternity. Whether you’re a junior programmer, senior software engineer, or non-technical manager, you’ll learn how to create a sound plan for your software project, and make better decisions about the pattern and structure of your system. Discover why good software design has become the missing science Understand the ultimate purpose of software and the goals of good design Determine the value of your design now and in the future Examine real-world examples that demonstrate how a system changes over time Create designs that allow for the most change in the environment with the least change in the software Make easier changes in the future by keeping your code simpler now Gain better knowledge of your software’s behavior with more accurate tests