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PhD Research On Software Design Principles?

Posted by kdawson on from the and-don't-tell-me-to-use-emacs dept.

cconnell writes "I am working on a PhD in software engineering at Tufts University. My interest are the general principles of good software design, and I am looking for links/references on this topic. The question is: What design/architecture qualities are shared by all good software? Good software means lacking in bugs, maintainable, modifiable, scalable, etc... Please don't tell me 'use object oriented methods' or 'try extreme programming.' These answers are too narrow, since there is good software written in COBOL, and by 1000-person teams for DoD projects. I am looking for general design principles. If it helps, I am trying to build on the ideas in this article from some years back."

5 of 541 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Modularity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The rom anyone posts, the srow it gets.

  2. Only Hire Women? by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Funny
    That's what Slashdot told me yesterday.

    Personally I only do extreme, object oriented programming in COBOL, so I have nothing new to offer.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  3. The best answer I can provide you dear sir by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Use object oriented methods or, in the alternative, try extreme programming. Refactor whenever possible. Dissect and redistribute. Make sure the team is cohesive and factionalized. Compensate for all scalable factors on a frequent basis, using randomization approaches. Never, and this is not set in stone, allow the project to objectify to the point of opacity. This cannot be overemphasized: you can never add too much manpower to software tasks.

  4. Don't forget your .bib file by CapnYarrrrrr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just be sure to add your Slashdot research to your .bib file:

    @MISC{Slashdot:2008,
    AUTHOR = "Level 70 Opinionated Geeks",
    TITLE = "Musings on Software Design Principles",
    HOWPUBLISHED = "Randomly Moderated Posts",
    MONTH = "June",
    YEAR = "2008",
    NOTE = "Results from Ask Slashdot when I was too lethargic to look up CS articles online",
    }

  5. Re:Modularity by sapphire+wyvern · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow. This is the first time I've seen endian compatibility problems in web browsers.