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"Rule 5. Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident." This should

"Rule 5. Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident." This should have been #1. Really. In all of my 20 years of designing and writing software products, I have the learned that pretty much all of the work depends on the data model/the data structures. (And also: once you have you have understood the data structures of a program, you kinda understand the program too.) It is by far the number one mistake for juniors to do - focusing on the code rather than on the data structures.

amelius 9y ago
I've found that even as a user it is very useful to have a mental image of what the "data model" looks like, abstractly. This is more important than knowing about all the features of an application. I'm thinking user documentation should start with a quick explanation of the data model, and from there describe the operations that can be performed on it.
- johansch 9y ago
  Yeah, the data structures define the program. Both downwards towards the developer and upwards towards the user.
  - evincarofautumn 9y ago
    This reminds me of a quote about Blender, which I find has a remarkably solid architecture based on the idea of interactively editing a sort of “scene database”: “Although some jokingly called Blender a ‘struct visualizer’, the name is actually quite accurate. During the first months of Blender's development, we did little but devise structures and write include files. During the years that followed, mostly tools and visualization methods were worked out.” And the architecture of a compiler I’ve been working on has gotten considerably simpler and more solid as I’ve figured out the right data structures—with the right data model, especially if it’s enforced with types, the code practically writes itself. Finding that model is the hard part.

amelius 9y ago

I've found that even as a user it is very useful to have a mental image of what the "data model" looks like, abstractly. This is more important than knowing about all the features of an application. I'm thinking user documentation should start with a quick explanation of the data model, and from there describe the operations that can be performed on it.

johansch 9y ago
Yeah, the data structures define the program. Both downwards towards the developer and upwards towards the user.
- evincarofautumn 9y ago
  This reminds me of a quote about Blender, which I find has a remarkably solid architecture based on the idea of interactively editing a sort of “scene database”: “Although some jokingly called Blender a ‘struct visualizer’, the name is actually quite accurate. During the first months of Blender's development, we did little but devise structures and write include files. During the years that followed, mostly tools and visualization methods were worked out.” And the architecture of a compiler I’ve been working on has gotten considerably simpler and more solid as I’ve figured out the right data structures—with the right data model, especially if it’s enforced with types, the code practically writes itself. Finding that model is the hard part.