February 2009
Beginner
222 pages
5h 23m
English
Content preview from 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 29. Try Before Choosing
Erik Doernenburg is a technology principal at ThoughtWorks, Inc., where he helps clients with the design and implementation of large-scale enterprise solutions.
—Erik Doernenburg
CREATING AN APPLICATION REQUIRES MAKING MANY DECISIONS. Some might involve choosing a framework or library, while others revolve around the use of specific design patterns. In either case the responsibility for the decision generally lies with the architect on the team. A stereotypical architect might gather all the information that can be gathered, then mull over it for a while, and finally decree the solution from the ivory tower for it to be implemented by the developers. Not surprisingly, there is a better way.
In their work on lean development, Mary and Tom Poppendieck describe a technique for making decisions. They argue that we should delay commitment until the last responsible moment; that is, the moment at which, if the team does not make a decision, it is made for them—when inaction results in an outcome that is not (easily) reversible. This is prudent because the later a decision is made, the more information is available on which to base the decision. However, in many cases more information is not the same as enough information, and we also know that the best decisions are made in hindsight. What does this mean for the good architect?
The architect should constantly ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.