Classics

Classic articles worth reading or re-reading.

Articles

Things You Should Never Do, Part 1 - Joel Spolsky
- When and why rewriting the whole “mess” is not a good idea.
The Law of Leaky Abstractions - Joel Spolsky
- Why “hidden” implementation details often surface.
What Is Software Design? - Jack Reeeves
- All of programming is design, none is implementation. Whoa!
The Rise of Worse is Better - Richard Gabriel
- Less elegant (worse) things are often more successful (better).
Big Ball of Mud - Foote and Yoder
- Discussion of the forces that create “bad” architecture.
A Codebase is an Organism - Kevin Simler
- An extended metaphor on how software evolves over time.

Illustrations