The CRC Card Book (Paperback)

~ (Author), Susan Suchman Simone (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This concise book addresses the actual details involved with using CRC cards, including coverage of the team approach to analysis and examples of program code (Java, C++, and Smalltalk) derived from the use of the CRC card method.

From the Back Cover

Applying the object-oriented paradigm to the development of software requires individuals and teams to think and act differently than when designing procedural projects. While proponents of the object paradigm often say identifying objects is a simple and intuitive process, experienced developers know that this is not always true. The solution is the CRC (Classes, Responsibilities, Collaboration) Card method, a proven technique for identifying classes and visualizing and testing different class-based models during the design phase.

The CRC Card Book covers the CRC method from start to finish, illustrating its application in three different in-depth case studies which supply tips and pointers drawn from real world experience. The case studies are presented in the engaging style of a novella to demonstrate how personalities and organizational culture come into play when using the CRC technique. C++, Java, and Smalltalk experts provide implementation examples in each language. The CRC Card Book demonstrates how to:

• Discover classes through team brainstorming
• Refine project requirements
• Test the conception of the system and evaluate potential paths of collaboration using role play
• Manage an object-oriented project
• Implement a CRC design in C++, Java, and Smalltalk; all source code is available via the World Wide Web.

Includes language implementation examples from such noted experts as:

• Java: Cay Horstman, San Jose State University
  
• Smalltalk: Larry Smith, IBM Corp.
  
• C++: Jeremy Raw, Interactive Software
  

0201895358B04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (June 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201895358
• ISBN-13: 978-0201895353
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,077,186 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for helping do high level OO design., December 1, 1998

By A Customer

I have been trying to teach OOD to new graduates for a couple of years. Now I teach through this book first. It has more good information about how to get groups to come up with good designs than any other book I have found. Be warned, it's not about UML or Java. The book is about how to get people to work out a design together.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal for getting you started on "how to" identify Classes., December 3, 2000

By	George de la Torre "eskie" (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

You want to know a great way on "how to" identify classes from any type of user requiremnets? Buy this book now!

A lot of OOA books like to tell how to design from start to finish. However, some (most) of us are thrown in some obligatory process without consent. CRC will bridge the gap on getting your Classes defined.

Also, CRC works well for "Use Cases". I use CRC after a good Use Case session for Class Diagrams. Some prefer to do CRC before Use Cases. That's the beauty, CRC can be injected anywhere you deem fit.

And, finally, this book will get you "thinking in objects" fast!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High-effective but fragile, October 12, 2002

By	Maxim Masiutin (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This book encourages better OO design and analysis, shows how to involve the entire team of developers to the design of the whole system. The authors also describe how to gain benefit from involving the user and other parties to the OO design process.

I was in OO development for five years and I was thinking about a solution which will improve the efficiency of OO design and help to avoid splitting the program between developers who create their own set of classes they are responsible for. Such splitting leads to integration problems and overall design imbalance. Fred Brooks has described this consequences in his famous book "The Mythical Man-Month", where the modules are being written first and integrated later, and the coordination of interfaces between modules written by each developer requires essential effort and time. The CRC Card Book shows how to have "the interfaces" coordinated in the very beginning.

However, the methodology described in this book is "fragile". As soon as it isn't followed by all of the developers, it became useless. But if it is followed, the results are amazing. The book, however, is not very easy to read and lack something which can attract the developers who are "neutral" to improving their way of creating OO programs. But, for the people who already have strong OO background and are seeking the way how to improve their efficiency significant, the book is a must-have.