Object-oriented software construction
by Bertrand Meyer · first published 1988
58% recommend34% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Language-independent treatment of OOP concepts, with design by contract (preconditions, postconditions, invariants) and exceptions explained through Eiffel; suits readers wanting the reasoning behind OO design.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Object-Oriented Software Construction presents the methods and techniques of object-oriented design, based on a careful assessment of the underlying software-engineering issues. The book reviews both the techniques needed to obtain the full extent of the approach and object-oriented systems design, with emphasis on effective module-interface design. Numerous examples of reusable software components are presented covering many of the important everyday programming structures. The ideas and concepts are made concrete by realizing them in the Eiffel object-oriented programming language. (Back c
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The best description of exceptions that I've seen is Bertrand Meyer's exposition of them in _Object Oriented Software Construction_. His definition depends on the notion of Design by Contract. An exception is an event that causes a function/method to fail because it is unable to satisfy its contract. The caller is then responsible…
on “Programming Paradigms for Dummies: What Every Programmer Should Know (2009) [pdf]” ↗How does the Smalltalk book compare to "Object-Oriented Software Construction" by Meyer? The latter is my goto OO book (in combination with "Object Oriented Design Heuristics" by Riel)
on “The Programming Books That Meant The Most To Me” ↗…code, and the end result met its goals and was somewhat widely used in projects by the company where it was developed. Edit 2: Bertrand Meyer is also the author of a very well-known and respected book, Object Oriented Software Construction. It's a big book. I read a lot of it, some years ago. It has some very good points in it. Bertrand Meyer is one person who seems to have thought and done a great deal about the process of software development…
on “Lampsort: Leslie Lamport's Non-recursive Quicksort” ↗I would add - Object Oriented Software Construction (2nd. Bertrand Meyer) I would recommend Eiffel if you want to elevate OO design. The issue with the GOF book that I have is that there is a slant towards composition as opposed to inheritance. When done…
on “Ask HN: I have a mental block designing software. Time to quit?” ↗I developed a great interest in Eiffel after I read Bertrand Meyer's book "Object Oriented Software Construction" (which I still think is one of the all time great books on object-oriented programming), but I never found anyone else that was using it and the IDE was way too expensive for me at the time. It just…
on “Modern Java – A Guide to Java 8” ↗Bertrand Meyer Object Oriented Software Construction is excellent. It details the concepts of OOP and remains very independent of the programming language.
on “Ask HN: How to Learn OOP” ↗Interesting to hear your experience. I had read a good amount about Eiffel and also large parts of Bertrand Meyer's book Object-Oriented Software Construction (quite a thick book too, and which uses the syntax and semantics of Eiffel, or something close to it, IIRC [1]), some years ago. Had found the language very interesting and also was impressed by it (and…
on “Toward Go 2” ↗…replied saying they had used it in real life, and it was gold. SQL for Professionals, by authors whose names I forget. The Object Primer, by can't remember who, but good. A Unix book by Kochan, IIRC. Object-Oriented Software Construction, by Bertrand Meyer, creator of the Eiffel programming language. A book on object-oriented analysis / design, can't remember the name, by Rebecca Wirfs-Brock (?) and others. Learned about CRC cards from…
on “Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?” ↗in addition to others already reported: Object Oriented Software Construction by Meyer.Mostly because, like other great books, it proposes a problem and then presents a solution which exposes another issue and so on and so forth. Even if in the end one disagrees with all the proposed…
on “Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?” ↗I would recommend you OOSC (Object oriented software construction) by Bertrand Meyer. A mammouth book. Its length, which could be a hindrance, is its best point: you'll have plenty of explanations for every concept.
on “ Ask HN: What are some good books for understanding OOP? ” ↗…languages, because general multiple inheritance just isn't too useful. Still, it's a shame that most people interested in programming languages have never heard about Eiffel, or ever read the superb book "Object-Oriented Software Construction" by Eiffel's creator, Bertrand Meyer. Eiffel has many flaws (the most proeminent being the complete lack of support for functional idioms), but it has very good ideas as well. (Perhaps the most popular…
on “Scala – 1 Star – Would Not Program Again” ↗…source code as examples for various object oriented concepts. I have cross-checked various sources and it seems like this book covers all relevant concepts including SOLID principles. Bertrand Meyer - Object-Oriented Software Construction https://www.amazon.com/Object-Oriented-Software-Construction... This seems to be a great reference. However, I haven't looked too thoroughly into it. I found a nice quote though. "Today, no one will…
on “Ask HN: Are there any courses/course materials that teach oop concepts well?” ↗Bertrand Meyer's [1] book, Object-Oriented Software Construction [2], mentioned in another comment here, is good, IMO; some people consider it a classic. I had read large parts of it some years ago. He is the creator of the Eiffel programming language [3], which seem…
on “Ask HN: Are there any courses/course materials that teach oop concepts well?” ↗If you can find a copy, get the 1st Edition of Bertrand Meyer's "Object Oriented Software Construction". (1st ed. is a classic; 2nd ed. is much larger and worse for it, IMO.) If you can, forget about the title and just read it; most of the good stuff in this book is less about objects and much more a…
on “Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?” ↗…succeeded more and become mainstream. I've tried it out some with EiffelStudio earlier. Their support for developing GUI apps, at least on Windows, also seemed good, based on what I tried of it. The book "Object-Oriented Software Construction" by Bertrand Meyer, Eiffel creator, is also very good. I had read most of it some years ago.
on “C as an intermediate language (2012)” ↗