The Practical Design Method: A Software Design Method for a First Object Oriented Project

Commercial object-oriented design methods are often complicated and hard to learn and use. This paper presents a software design method that is a pragmatic and simple approach to designing object-oriented applications. It is based on the fundamental principles of object-oriented design: objects and their cooperation. Design process descriptions are described, considering modeling notations, as well as steps from collecting customer requirements to implementing code. The design method includes only three notations and five clear steps. Still, it covers the software design process from requirements capture to testing. The approach presented here is simple and easy enough to apply and further develop. It can be used in the very first object-oriented projects of a company, and in domains and environments that are clear and simple enough, such as a design course in a computing school. For more complex domains or environments, the method scales up.