Resolving Cyclic Dependencies

Need to break the vicious circle?

Need to break the vicious circle?

Cyclic dependencies among Classes are a common issue in software development. They are best resolved at design level. This article explains how to do this. It also provides some intuitive insights into Interfaces and dependencies. Continue reading

Dependencies and Arrowheads

Dependencies burden your design

Dependencies burden your design

Fixing one bug often causes multiple new bugs. This article explains why by introducing some basics about dependencies. It also briefly introduces parts of UML to visualize these dependencies. Continue reading

Code Smell: Feature Envy

Are your classes green with envy?

Are your classes green with envy?

Methods suffer from Feature Envy, if they use other classes more than their own. This article describes why this is bad design, how to visualize feature envy and how to cure it.  Continue reading

The Single Responsibility Principle

Swiss Army Knife

Are your classes Swiss Army Knifes?

Every good software is based on fundamental principles, every developer should know. This article explains the single responsibilities principle using a simple example. It introduces a new diagram to identify responsibilities of a class and a simple refactoring to get rid of multiple responsibilities.  Continue reading

Advantages of Graphical Notations #1: Understand existing Software

Code vs. Diagram

Reading Code vs. Reading Diagram

In software development one can highly profit from using graphical representations, instead of reading the code directly. This article uses a simple example, to demonstrate the advantages of diagrams over code. This first part, is about understanding the status quo of an existing software.  Continue reading