Customer Reviews

Designing Object-Oriented Software

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When the book is more than 10 years old and still a required literature in the area, that really tells you a lot. Especially if the area is software engineering where things tend to change quickly. After more than 10 years this book is still a fundamental reading from OO design. Even IBM recommends this book for it's Object Oriented Programming exam. First several chapters are really classic - everything is there: why OOP?, objects, classes, responsibilities, collaborations, hierarchies. If you read this first and then go for any C++/Java/put_your_favorite_oop_language_here book, everything is going to be much much easier and more clear even if you have a decent OO design background. There are even couple of presentations of complete implementations of fair software projects using the terminology and techniques described in the book (last two chapters). If you are beginner in OO design or you have to read just one "theoretical" book from OO design or don't know where to start concerning OO design, I recommend this one. The only drawback is that book is still pretty expensive, but I am sure that you will not regret...

This book is great because it makes sense. Its simply well thought out, consistent in its approach, and extremely insightful. Even if you dont use CRC cards or dont use the term "Responsibility Driven" in your work, you will find this text and the concepts it presents fit in nicely with the newer UML notation and "way of being." Although you won't find "Use Case" in the index, the stability of the common sense put into this book will map easily to whatever modeling doctrines you use. The fact that Amazon.com is shipping a software design book that is almost 10yrs old in 24hours should also tell you something about its credibility. Simply, a great book.

I am a veteran lecturer of object oriented programming> Unfortunately, despite the popularity of the subject and the (seeming) abundance of books in the discipline, I still have a difficulty in providing my students with a comprehensive source of information. This book, however, covers more than any other book I know of, in the clearest form.

First, I'll tell you what this book isn't: a detailed discourse on the inner Zen of object-oriented development, a la Booch, Jakobsen, Rumbaugh, Nielson et al. It IS, however, the best single introduction to the subject I've ever seen. In my experience with computer-related books, it is virtually unique, not only in that it is clear and concise, but actually a pleasure to read! My best testimonial: I dropped my computer science major in college (my BA's in English) because the subject bored me stiff. This book rekindled my interest in the field, and led me to a major career change - and how many books can I say THAT about?

When I started learning Object Oriented Design, I was a C programmer with some COBOL experience. I was having a hard time making the paradigm shift to object orientation. This book was the best of several that I read. It was while reading this book that "the light came on". Since then, I've been recommending this book to anyone who is trying to make that paradigm shift themselves.

The book is language neutral - just as design should be. So you won't get hung up on examples in a language that you don't have.

Wirfs-Brock takes you through the design process, from the requirements to finished design, helping you understand how to discover your objects and assign responsibilities to them (Responsibility Driven Design (RDD)). She uses Class/Responsibility cards (similar to if not the same as CRC cards) to illustrate the documentation of information. Though there are more modern tools (UML) to capture some of this information, I still use these cards early in a design process because of the ease of changing/correcting them.

Having sifted through Booch, Rumbaugh & Jacobson - the definitive OO texts - I found this book to be a refreshingly lightweight introduction to Object Oriented Design. It covers the subject in a straightforward step-by-step style and leads the reader through a couple of examples. These are documented in full at the back of the book, and in this I think the text offers an advantage over others that I have read. Certainly it is a more practical commentary on the subject. By todays standards it may be a little long in the tooth, so far as OO design goes, but the fundamentals still apply. I would recommend this book to those who wish to get to grips with OO design - for a more theoretical text turn to the fathers of the discipline, but I bet we won't see those on your bedside table.

I am a System Analyst by profession. I needed a book which will help me in understanding the basics of Object Oriented Technology to enable me to perform System Analysis and Design for developing OLTP applications using the Object Oriented Technology. I must admit the book served the purpose.

For newer programming students the context is difficult to follow. Does not go into basics enough so students can follow the more complex lines of thought.