Code complete 2 summary Part II— A Steve McConnel Book

Code complete 2 is a practical handbook for software construction. It goes from the big picture of software development down to specific code examples, providing hard data, checklists and links to other sources of information. The breadth and depth of the topics thus serves not only beginners and self-taught programmers, but also experienced ones and technical leads.

This summary series aims to lay out the bigger picture and basic but important principles mentioned in the book.

Previous Part: Laying the foundation

Part II: Creating High Quality Code

Chapter 5: Design in Construction
If the requirements for an application are clear, the design work must be done. This activity links the requirements with the actual implementation. On smaller projects the design is done when the programmer sits at the keyboard. But if the solution is not obvious, the design in general brings some challenges:
- First of all it a sloppy process. You will make a lot of mistakes and take false steps to find a good solution.
- Design is nondeterministic, which means that there are many acceptable ways to solve a problem.
- Real life projects bring restrictions with them. Be it limited resources, some regulation or conflicts. Design in such situation is about trade-offs and priorities.
- This makes design a heuristic process, a “rule of thumb”. Some solutions might have worked on other projects, but it not guaranteed that the same solution…