O'Reilly has just released a new book on object-oriented (OO) programming. Head First Object-Oriented Analysis & Design — The Brain-Friendly Guide to Writing Great Software, Every Time, by Brett McLaughlin, Gary Pollice, and David West, shows developers how to analyze, design, and write “serious object-oriented software,”… according to the publisher.

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According to O'Reilly, the book “uses the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory to take developers from thinking about code to thinking about software.” It shows how to solve real problems, regardless of their size and complexity, by applying good design principles and practices.

McLaughlin says he “jumped at the chance” to wed formal “OOA&D” methodology to actual practice. “I got to pepper my coauthors at every turn with questions like, 'But how do people actually do this stuff in the real world?' It was exciting to see that some of the things that I had figured out in my own career — things that worked really, really well — were actually OOA&D concepts. In many cases, learning the ideas behind what I was already doing really took my programming to another level.”

According to the publisher, the book shows readers how to:

• Use OO principles like encapsulation and delegation to build applications that are flexible
• Apply the Open-Closed Principle (OCP) and the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) to promote code reuse
• Leverage the power of design patterns to solve problems more efficiently
• Use UML, use cases, and diagrams to ensure that all stakeholders are communicating clearly

O'Reilly stated, “If writing great prose were purely a matter of putting sentences together, then we'd all be writing great blogs. Software development is the same: creating software is more than simply producing code.”

 
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