Software Development and Professional Practice

C H A P T E R  6

Design Principles

There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.

— C. A. R. Hoare

One way to look at software problems is with a model that divides the problems into two different layers:

• “Wicked” problems fall in the upper layer. These are problems that typically come from domains outside of computer science (e.g. biology, business, meteorology, sociology, political science, etc.). These types of problems tend to be open-ended, ill-defined, and large in the sense that they require much work. For example, pretty much any kind of a web commerce application ...