Code Craft

How to Design Code

Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context—a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.

—Eliel Saarinen

How do you learn to design well? Are good designers born or made? Can design be taught or caught? Some programmers have a natural flair for good design; it fits the way their brains work. They naturally appreciate aesthetics and can comprehend enough of a problem to make balanced judgments. Nevertheless, you can learn to design more effectively.

When I was born, I wasn’t very good at pottery. (I’ve never met anyone who was.) I’m still terrible now, but I took some lessons once. I understand the mechanics and can produce (almost recognizable) pots. I’d ...