Multi-Paradigm Design for C++ (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly Recommended: This book provides readers with an informal, pragmatic approach to software development. It was well worth studying and has proved enlightening...This is a good book that should be read by intermediate to advanced C++ developers. If you don't have time to read it, then at least have a quick look through. You're bound to find a chapter that attracts your attention and enlightens you." -- Ian Bruntlett, Overload

"If you want to broaden your perspective and willing to risk facing a world in which OOP is not always the best, then you should take the time to read this book. I suspect that having done so you will want to hang on to your copy so as to read it again in a leisurely fashion... Finally, if you ever get a chance to listen to James Coplien speak grab it with both hands, he is one of those exceptional speakers that set standards that most of us can only aspire to." -- Francis Glassborow, of the Association of C and C++ Users (ACCU), in C Vu January, 1999

"Jim Coplien is a recognized authority in several areas of software development: C++ programming, the object paradigm, patterns, and the organizational aspects of software development projects. His latest book combines his knowledge of all these topics... The book excels because of the author's broad knowledge... Multi-Paradigm Design in C++ is a great book crammed with elaborate and compelling ideas. Reading it will change your perception of software development. " -- Angelika Langer and Klaus Kreft, The Development Exchange

"May well be one of the most important books ever written in the software field... treats an extremely complex topic in an extremely complex manner" -- The Software Practitioner

"This may be one of the most important books ever written in the software field." ... "Who would believe that behind the covers of a book that announces it is about 'multi-paradigm' something-or-other, is perhaps the definitive book on domain analysis and engineering. - how to choose among competing methodologies - distinguishing between the problem and its solution" ... "The software engineering field in the future must focus heavily not just on applications but on their families." -- Robert L. Glass, in Software Practitioner, May 1999

Product Description

The C++ language is being used increasingly for complex and large-scale software systems--systems that call for multi-paradigm design. Well known for his C++ expertise, James Coplien guides program designers through the most challenging aspects of C++ design. He describes each paradigm and explains how it solves the design problem at hand and how it applies to C++.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (October 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201824671
• ISBN-13: 978-0201824674
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #709,412 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Transition legacy systems with multi-paradigm design, May 8, 2000

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

In the programming world, the word paradigm is simultaneously over and under used. It is under used in the sense that in this field, the conventional wisdom changes with the announcement of each new next big thing. Fortunes are made and lost in a matter of hours, based on a cycle of "revolutionary" new ideas. However, it is sometimes over used when referring to a specific programming language. I must confess that while it is clear that C++ is a very flexible language that allows for many different approaches, I was skeptical when I read the title of this book. I tend to define the term paradigm to mean more significant differences than others do. However, only a short while into the book, I realized the sense of the approach the author has taken.
The majority of software projects are not constructed anew, but are legacy systems that need to be updated. In almost all of those cases, this would involve multi-paradigm development, as it is a rare occasion indeed when legacy technology would be used to manage the updates. In fact, the tools and expertise may no longer exist. Even in those cases where there is a complete rewrite it is necessary to understand the old paradigm, so there is no fundamental difference from the update.
In reading this book, I was struck with many thoughts about how practical the authors approach is. He argues for C++ by emphasizing that it is a language capable of supporting many different approaches, sometimes even simultaneously. I regularly teach experienced programmers the basic concepts of object-oriented programming , and this gives me firsthand experience in seeing the difficulties in making the paradigm shift. I gleaned a few new approaches from this book that I believe will help make the transition easier.
The problem with learning new tricks is often because we know so many old ones. If we can intersperse the old and the new, transitions are easier, and this book will help you successfully perform the mixing.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding contribution to software design philosophy!, September 15, 1999

By	Christophe Pierret ([e-mail]) (Paris,France) - See all my reviews

The author tries to bring back together different ways of thinking (aka paradigms) and succeeds. You will never see analysis and design the same way after reading this book. He showed me what generic programming (C++ templates) and OO have in common. Even if you don't use C++ in your day to day tasks, you can benefit from reading this book. Thanks Mr Coplien.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cure for Crank Suffrage, November 11, 2006

By	R. Williams "code slubber" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jesus, Amazon reviews are one of the best things about the internet. They have to start changing rating formulations here to discount the rise of corn pone crankery. Giving this one star and saying it is soporific (hint: that's a joke see, as the guy is complaining about use of language and the old mozartean syllable count), is LUDICROUS.

First off, where has this book been hiding? When I first read Coplien's Advanced C++ in 1992, it blew me away. I read and reread it like it was epic poetry (oh wait, that's because, well, it IS). Coplien is everything you want in an author: first, he is literate. Unlike junior who can only hold the book w/one hand (since they took away his pacifier, he has to use his thumb), he has clearly read and digested a LOT of stuff. Science people, too often have zero literary sensibility at all. Funny that the great scientists seemed to. Oppenheimer read in several languages and quoted the Baghavad Gita, Greek scholars, and was into poetry. Anyway, Coplien can also claim to have been, to borrow the Dean Acheson phrase 'Present at the Creation' (though, lucky for Cope, he was there and took part in the birthing of the most important software dev movement in the last 25 years, while Acheson helped cement the modern police state). Finally (on this front), this book is not only readable, it reads like the wind. And believe me, friends, I was almost suckered into believing the whiney tail of my hero's demise.

Now, here are a few more things I'd like to say about this book:

1. I have been reading a lot about PLE lately, and this book plugs into this so well, it's bizarre. For instance, this book takes some serious time to talk about how to do variability analysis, but also discusses things like the mapping of domain variability requirements to language features, the various codifying tools that enable substitution, but also substitution w/variation (e.g. parameterization, virtualization, etc.), but then, in a bonus turn on this vector, he talks about how this meshes with patterns, showing for instance how cases of negative variability (where the deriver wants to erase part of the base) can be refactored to Bridge, etc.

2. Don't get too thrown by the multi-paradigm angle the title implies: this book is not just a screed espousing the use of functional sideshoots, or procedural deviations.

In summary, this is a great book and I can't believe I did not know it existed until recently. If you are doing product oriented development especially, and variation at more than just the simplest level is a daily demand, this is one of the best wells to visit.