Software Design Requires Intimate Knowledge of the Codebase
By
saikatsg
Toasted golden, schmeared with insight. Top of the rack.
Summary
The article argues that effective software design requires intimate knowledge of the specific codebase being worked on, and that generic software design advice is often useless for practical problems. It emphasizes that only engineers actively working on a system can meaningfully participate in its design process, as they understand the concrete details and constraints that generic advice overlooks.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledOnly the engineers who work on a large software system can meaningfully participate in the design process.
You cannot do good software design without an intimate understanding of the concrete details of the system.
Generic software design advice is typically useless for most practical software design problems.
Generic software design is 'designing to the problem': the kind of advice you give when you have a reasonable understanding of the domain, but very little knowledge of the existing codebase.
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