A Philosophy of Software Design: My Take (and a Book Review)
I was somewhat skeptical when starting to read a Philosophy of Software Design, despite having it recommended by a friend. The book does a delightful job underselling itself. It is odd-shaped, published by a university press, and the preface mentions, "At this point, you might be wondering: what makes me think I know all the answers about software design? To be honest, I don't."
However, the fact that the book was written by someone who's been writing code for decades, the university press being Stanford press, and the book covering lessons learned during the first software design class at Stanford gauged my interest. Still, I wondered just how much I would learn about software design from experience partially distilled from a classroom - even if a Stanford classroom. A lot, as it would turn out.
This post summarizes key takeaways of the book and my take on these principles, drawing from my professional and industry experience. If you're interested in whether to read this book, my recommendation is that you probably should, for a few reasons I list in my conclusion.
