software architecture as design john d. mcgregor

Software Architecture as design

John D. McGregor

Beautiful software has:

• Cooperation

• Appropriate form

• System minimality

• Component singularity

• Functional locality

• Readability

• Simplicity

• http://www.chc-3.com/pub/beautifulsoftware.htm

Or…

• Integrity– beautiful software solves one problem, and does it

better than any other• Usability– It guides you through the tasks at hand in a clear

way, minimizing risks for misunderstanding or misuse of its features.

• Innovation – beautiful software is not afraid to solve the problems

at hand in new and amazing ways

Practical advice

• Maintain, trust, and foster your product vision.

• Stick your chin out and don’t be afraid to innovate.

• Love your users and invest in their interaction with your software.

• Maintain your integrity – fight for it and don’t stray away from it.

Software Craftsmanship

The goals of software craftsmanship are: Maintainability. Extensibility. Substitution.

Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY), and avoid Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome.You Ain't Gonna Need It (YAGNI) principle.Favor composition over inheritance.Create contracts for your objects.Have objects (and methods!) do one thing, and one thing well.

• http://www.joachimschummer.net/papers/2009_AestheticValues_HandbookPhilTech.pdf

• http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/papers/ASE-TR.pdf

Software sustainability

• Economic• Aesthetic• Timely• Natural

Work with “nature” not against it

• Rely on “local” conditions and traditions• Software architecture tends to be trendy and

international• The concept of “local” means domain-specific• There is no one architecture for everything

but international organizations train architect consultants and tend to homogenize product architectures

Moshe Safdie

• http://www.ted.com/talks/moshe_safdie_on_building_uniqueness

• Efficiency• Economy• Elegance• Form follows function• But there are many designs that will provide a

specific function so it is better to think…• Function follows form• Designs that look good usually are

Plato

• Plato said “The qualities of measure and proportion constitute beauty and excellence.

• Aesthetic excellence is grounded in order, harmony, symmetry, and proportion in the parts.

Plotinus

• Beauty is not in the relationships of the parts but in the unity of the one.

• Usually are conscious of the perfection of the whole before there is an appreciation of the individual details

• Experiment• Criticism • Theory• Practice

Take a look

• http://mwop.net/blog/2012-11-17-zendcon-beautiful-software.html

• http://www.mauronewmedia.com/blog/why-candy-crush-saga-is-so-successful-and-popular-but-will-never-be-an-angry-birds-a-cognitive-tear-down-of-the-user-experience/

Here’s what you are going to do..

• Step back and look at your architecture• What elements of beauty does it possess?• Identify what you think are the most beautiful

parts of your design.• Compare this to the earlier assignment where

you decided which part of the architecture you thought was the best and which was the worst.

• Write up your analysis and submit by 4/22 at 6am