Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

Chapter 6. Solving Really Big Problems: “My Name is Art Vandelay... I am an Architect”

It’s time to build something REALLY BIG. Are you ready?

You’ve got a ton of tools in your OOA&D toolbox, but how do you use those tools when you have to build something really big? Well, you may not realize it, but you’ve got everything you need to handle big problems. We’ll learn about some new tools, like domain analysis and use case diagrams, but even these new tools are based on things you already know about—like listening to the customer and understanding what you’re going to build before you start writing code. Get ready... it’s time to start playing the architect.

You solve big problems the same way you solve small problems.

We’ve been working with fairly simple applications so far... Rick’s guitar shop had less than fifteen classes in its worst state, and Doug’s dog door never had more than five. But everything you’ve learned so far applies to working with big applications, too.

It’s all in how you look at the big problem

Think about how you work on big problems, in big software applications. You usually look at the big picture, but then start working on just one part of the application’s functionality. ...