Tag: Software Engineering

Mostly posts relating to software design and architecture.

What’s wrong with Git? A conceptual design analysis

~ adriancolyer ~ 16 Comments

What's wrong with Git? A conceptual design analysis De Rossi & Jackson Onward! 2013 We finished up last week talking about the how to find good concepts / abstractions in a software design and what good modularization looks like. Today's paper jumps 40+ years to look at some of those issues in a modern context … Continue reading What’s wrong with Git? A conceptual design analysis

A design methodology for reliable software systems

~ adriancolyer ~ 4 Comments

A design methodology for reliable software systems Liskov 1972 We've come to the end of Liskov's list. The final paper is by Barbara Liskov herself, on the question of how best to go about designing software systems so that we can have some confidence they will work. The unfortunate fact is that the standard approach … Continue reading A design methodology for reliable software systems

Protection in programming languages

~ adriancolyer

Protection in programming languages Morris Jr., CACM 1973 This is paper 5/7 on Liskov's list. Experienced programmers will attest that hostility is not a necessary precondition for catastrophic interference between programs. So what can we do to ensure that program modules are appropriately protected and isolated? We still need to allow modules to cooperate and … Continue reading Protection in programming languages

Hierarchical program structures

~ adriancolyer ~ 4 Comments

Hierarchical Program Structures Dahl and Hoare, 1972 We continue to work our way through Liskov's list. 'Hierarchical program structures' is actually a book chapter, and is notable for defining a 'prefix' mechanism that looks awfully like a form of class inheritance, paving the way for hierarchical program structures (i.e. Class hierarchies). The main takeaway for … Continue reading Hierarchical program structures

Information distribution aspects of design methodology

~ adriancolyer ~ 9 Comments

Information distribution aspects of design methodology Parnas, 1971 We're continuing with Liskov's listthis week, and today's paper is another classic from David Parnas in which you can see some of the same thinking as in 'On the criteria....' Parnas talks about the modules of a system (for contemporary feel, we could call them 'microservices' once … Continue reading Information distribution aspects of design methodology