OOAD book recommendation: from theory to practice

oop architecture ooad
Exception e picture Exception e · Jan 29, 2010 · Viewed 10.7k times · Source

I am on the quest to be a good OO-developer. OO intrigues me, because I understand the patterns, know why composition gives you more flexibility then inheritance, and more of such wisdom. However, I came to the conclusion that I know how to implement a factory of a singleton, but that I do not know how to come up with a robust OO design.

I have a bunch of books

  1. Design Patterns by the GoF
  2. AntiPatterns Brown et al.
  3. Refactoring by Fowler
  4. Code complete 2

They might be very good books, but they don't teach you to architect an application. I am often paralysed by some very basic decisions (example). I am looking for a book that teaches the when and why. There are many books about hammers and nails, but I have yet to find a book that tells you something about their practical relationship.

What book was most instrumental in making you a confident OO-architect/designer?

Answer

Sergey Teplyakov picture Sergey Teplyakov · Jan 29, 2010
  1. "Object-oriented software construction" by Bertrand Meyer

Most fundamental work about object-orientation ever published. This is absolutely must have book for every "object-oriented" programmmer.

2. "Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications" by Grady Booch et al

Not so formal as Meyer's book, but this book can open your eyes on many questions in object-oriented world and in software development in general

3. "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software" by Erich Gamma et al.

This is famous "Gang of Four" book about design patterns

4. "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" by Martin Fowler et al.

This is another classical book. First part perfectly describe many problem that modern software developer may faced during his work: code smells, readability vs performance, premature optimization drawbacks and many other topics.

5. "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel

This book may help many beginners not only in Java language but in object-oriented way of thinking too.

6. "Touch of Class: Learning to Program Well with Objects and Contracts" by Bertrand Meyer

Excellent textbook by famous author.

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