van der Hoek’s new Software Design Decoded book provides practical advice for software designers

February 2, 2017

In Software Design Decoded: 66 Ways Experts Think, UC Irvine’s Informatics Professor and Department Chair André van der Hoek and Open University’s Professor of Computing Marian Petre offer an inside look at the work of expert software designers.

Based on decades of research studying professional software designers in action, van der Hoek and Petre deliberately organized the book into easily digestible, single-page considerations on software design in order to speak to a broad audience. More than musings, each of the 66 insights contains practical advice that is as easily applied in day-to-day software creation by the novice designer, as they serve as reminders of the craft for those already branded experts.

The book will be used in Spring 2017 for an upcoming Information and Computer Science graduate class, but could just as easily find a comfortable place on the shelves of undergraduate students and professionals alike. Succinct in style, yet packed with practical instruction (not to mention charming illustrations by artist Yen Quach), Software Design Decoded is a book any burgeoning software designer will want to return to time and again.

The book is available from MIT Press and Amazon.com.