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> From: Al Snell [mailto:alaric@a...] <snip/> > I've seen lots of debate about which is the best way to write > software; > I'm beginning to think that perhaps the best way is to > combine both types > of people. Have me design it, then you implement it and debug > it and feed > back to me on lessons learnt that I should use in future designs - I > suspect that would be the best use of our different mindsets! I think a good deal depends upon the scale of the project, but larger projects benefit from a hybrid model (and it is a hybrid model that I saw promoted in OO methodology books before "Extreme Programming" was the buzzword of the day, and I still believe in these OO methodologies). For any large-scale effort, you have to visualize the overall architecture and do some level of design in advance. But you don't worry too much about the details. You sketch out a skeleton, define the high-level modules and sketch the interfaces by which they interact. Then you go into a series of iterative cycles of design a little, build a little, test a little until you have something ready to deliver. I also tend to rely heavily upon prototyping anytime I'm entering uncharted territory. The projects I've worked on that use this approach have tended to be more successful than others.
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