http://www.principles-wiki.net/ 2026-04-18T16:13:22+00:00 http://www.principles-wiki.net/ http://www.principles-wiki.net/_media/logo.png text/html 2013-09-19T19:07:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:basic_idea?rev=1379617654&do=diff Basic Idea The basic idea of using principles as described and examined in this wiki is to use them for making design decisions and to judge whether one solution to a problem is better than another one in a certain context. The claim is that it is possible to describe all relevant aspects of a given design problem using a characterizing set of principles. text/html 2013-08-31T08:12:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:benefits?rev=1377936732&do=diff Benefits Learning Design Inexperienced developers can learn from principles what others already know. So principles are a means of experience reuse and a way of learning how to design. Just like patterns, idioms, anti-paterns, or code smells, principles are condensed knowledge and makes it learnable and teachable. text/html 2013-09-12T15:51:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:characterizing_sets_and_weighting_principles?rev=1379001069&do=diff Characterizing Sets And Weighting Principles Characterizing Sets A principle language cannot free the designer from actually taking a decision. There is no algorithm which replaces a sound judgment. Rather principle languages point to the relevant aspects to consider. For a given design problem, the result is a characterizing set of principles which describes the dimensions of the design space, i.e. the advantages and disadvantages of possible solutions. A typical characterizing set has around… text/html 2013-08-31T10:33:27+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:communication?rev=1377945207&do=diff Communication Communication is a central aspect in software development. A team can only perform well if the communication between the team members is good. One difficult communication task is to explain reasons for certain decisions. There are convincing reasons, less convincing ones, misleading ones, ways of persuading people, etc. The following arguments are bad ones: text/html 2013-09-01T09:42:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:conflicting_principles?rev=1378028532&do=diff Conflicting Principles Pareto-optimal solutions Each principle describes a certain aspect of the problem. For example KISS is about the value of simplicity. A solution is better when it is simpler. Another principle that might also be considered in the same context is text/html 2013-08-27T14:34:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:constructing_principle_languages?rev=1377614085&do=diff Constructing Principle Languages There are tens and maybe hundreds of principles. In order to form a concise vocabulary of principles for communicating about software design a manageable subset is needed. Such a subset forming a principle language can be taught and learned more easily. But constructing such a principle language comprises some complicated tasks and considerations. The following aspects have to be kept in mind when constructing a principle language: text/html 2013-09-05T18:28:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:describing_principles?rev=1378405708&do=diff Describing Principles All principles in this wiki are described using a certain description template. This makes the wiki a principle catalog. Variants and Alternative Names Each principle may have several alternative names. This may be because the same principle has been described several times independently. A principle may also evolve over time, change its name, change its meaning, may be applied to other contexts, etc. So there may be several names referring basically to the same principl… text/html 2013-08-20T09:07:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:experience_reuse?rev=1376989670&do=diff Experience Reuse This wiki is essentially about experience reuse. Some developers made some experience, gained some knowledge, and got expertise. Then they codified this knowledge as patterns, anti-patterns, principles and the like. This wiki collects these and describes and examines them in a structured way. text/html 2013-12-09T13:30:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:frequently_asked_questions?rev=1386595845&do=diff Frequently Asked Questions Q: How to use the principles in order to design software? A: Normally you don't. The purpose of principles and principle languages is to assess designs, not to generate them. It's an analytical approach rather than a generative one. Nevertheless the wiki gives small hints. For each principle there is a text/html 2013-09-01T09:48:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:future_research_possibilities?rev=1378028918&do=diff Future Research Possibilities Principle langauges have just emerged. The future will show if they will be forgotten or explored further. In the latter case there are plenty of possibilities for research: * Examining single principles: The vast majority of principles hasn't been subject to empirical studies, yet text/html 2013-09-01T12:07:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:generative_vs._analytic_design_approaches?rev=1378037233&do=diff Generative vs. Analytic Design Approaches Software development involves frequent design decisions. The designer has to decompose the system to into subsystems and modules. Furthermore suitable interaction mechanisms between the modules have to be defined, appropriate data structures have to be found and so on. Each of these tasks or text/html 2013-08-31T08:57:33+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:learning_design?rev=1377939453&do=diff Learning Design Learning how to design high-quality software takes a lot of time. It is necessary to gain experience by making good and decisions and seeing the consequences. While nothing can really replace making own experiences, there certainly are ways to teach and learn design to some extent. It is possible to learn from others who have already made certain experiences. One possibility to do so, is by studying principles and principle languages. text/html 2013-08-31T09:36:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:making_design_decisions?rev=1377941769&do=diff Making Design Decisions When designing software, you are constantly looking for solutions for certain problems. But when you have found one, it is still necessary to decide if it is a good (i.e. appropriate) one. If that's not the case, another solution has to be found. So how to assess if a solution is good? text/html 2013-09-16T15:27:19+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:navigating_principle_languages?rev=1379345239&do=diff Navigating Principle Languages Introduction When making a design decision based on principles, it is necessary to find those principles which fit to the given design problem. This means the designer has to figure out which aspects need consideration. Seasoned designers will already know that by experience but there is also some guidance for that task. text/html 2013-09-19T20:07:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:start?rev=1379621228&do=diff About Principles and Principle Languages * Basic Idea * Usage of Principles and Principle Languages * Generative vs. Analytic Design Approaches * Conflicting Principles * Characterizing Sets and Weighting Principles * Navigating Principle Languages * Using Principles In The Plan-Driven World * Using Principles In The Agile World * Benefits of using principles and principle languages * Learning Design * Making Design Decisions * Communication * Other Forms of… text/html 2013-05-19T20:09:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:using_principles_in_the_agile_world?rev=1368994152&do=diff Using Principles In The Agile World Unlike plan-driven development agile software development has no separate design phase. Rather all design decisions are made implicitly during implementation and typically test-driven development (TDD) is used to drive the design. In a nutshell this means development is the continuous repetition of the following steps: text/html 2013-09-01T11:49:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) http://www.principles-wiki.net/about:using_principles_in_the_plan-driven_world?rev=1378036146&do=diff Using Principles In The Plan-driven World Traditional, plan-driven processes are typically derived from the waterfall-model. This means there is a dedicated design phase and a subsequent implementation phase. The number of phases, the degree of design documentation, the produced artifacts, etc. may vary but the essential way of thinking is that design always precedes implementation.