Large-Scale C++

Description

Writing reliable and maintainable C++ software is hard. Designing such software at scale adds a new set of challenges. Creating large-scale systems requires a practical understanding of logical design — beyond the theoretical concepts addressed in most popular texts. To be successful on an enterprise scale, developers must also address physical design, a dimension of software engineering that may be unfamiliar even to expert developers. Drawing on over 30 years of hands-on experience building massive, mission-critical enterprise systems, John Lakos shows how to create and grow Software Capital. This groundbreaking volume lays the foundation for projects of all sizes and demonstrates the processes, methods, techniques, and tools needed for successful real-world, large-scale development.
Up to date and with a solid engineering focus, Large-Scale C++, Volume I: Process and Architecture, demonstrates fundamental design concepts with concrete examples. Professional developers of all experience levels will gain insights that transform their approach to design and development by understanding how to

• Raise productivity by leveraging differences between infrastructure and application development
• Achieve exponential productivity gains through feedback and hierarchical reuse
• Embrace the component’s role as the fundamental unit of both logical and physical design
• Analyze how fundamental properties of compiling and linking affect component design
• Discover effective partitioning of logical content in appropriately sized physical aggregates
• Internalize the important differences among sufficient, complete, minimal, and primitive software
• Deliver solutions that simultaneously optimize encapsulation, stability, and performance
• Exploit the nine established levelization techniques to avoid cyclic physical dependencies
• Use lateral designs judiciously to avoid the “heaviness” of conventional layered architectures
• Employ appropriate architectural insulation techniques for eliminating compile-time coupling
• Master the multidimensional process of designing large systems using component-based methods

This is the first of John Lakos’s three authoritative volumes on developing large-scale systems using C++. This book, written for fellow software practitioners, uses familiar C++ constructs to solve real-world problems while identifying (and motivating) modern C++ alternatives. Together with the forthcoming Volume II: Design and Implementation and Volume III: Verification and Testing, Large-Scale C++ offers comprehensive guidance for all aspects of large-scale C++ software development. If you are an architect or project leader, this book will empower you to solve critically important problems right now — and serve as your go-to reference for years to come.

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• Presents dozens of small examples and small, relatively self-contained items designed for easy use, easy learning, and easy reference
• Includes essential new coverage of runtime dependencies and other architectural issues
• For every senior developer, architect, or project manager who works with C++ in the enterprise or other large-scale software development environments

John Lakos, manager at Bloomberg, runs their BDE group, which develops fine-grained reusable C++ software using his component-based methodology and process. He also mentors engineers and team leads throughout Bloomberg’s software infrastructure department. As a voting member of the C++ Standards Committee, he has helped shape new generations of C++. He is the author of Large-Scale C++ Software Design (Addison-Wesley, 1996).

The practitioner’s guide to designing highly-scalable software in modern C++

• Presents dozens of small examples and small, relatively self-contained items designed for easy use, easy learning, and easy reference
• Includes essential new coverage of runtime dependencies and other architectural issues
• For every senior developer, architect, or project manager who works with C++ in the enterprise or other large-scale software development environments

Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxv
Chapter 0: Motivation 1
0.1 The Goal: Faster, Better, Cheaper! 3
0.2 Application vs. Library Software 5
0.3 Collaborative vs. Reusable Software 14
0.4 Hierarchically Reusable Software 20
0.5 Malleable vs. Stable Software 29
0.6 The Key Role of Physical Design 44
0.7 Physically Uniform Software: The Component 46
0.8 Quantifying Hierarchical Reuse: An Analogy 57
0.9 Software Capital 86
0.10 Growing the Investment 98
0.11 The Need for Vigilance 110
0.12 Summary 114
Chapter 1: Compilers, Linkers, and Components 123
1.1 Knowledge Is Power: The Devil Is in the Details 125
1.2 Compiling and Linking C++ 129
1.3 Declarations, Definitions, and Linkage 153
1.4 Header Files 190
1.5 Include Directives and Include Guards 201
1.6 From .h /.cpp Pairs to Components 209
1.7 Notation and Terminology 216
1.8 The Depends-On Relation 237
1.9 Implied Dependency 243
1.10 Level Numbers 251
1.11 Extracting Actual Dependencies 256
1.12 Summary 259
Chapter 2: Packaging and Design Rules 269
2.1 The Big Picture 270
2.2 Physical Aggregation 275
2.3 Logical/Physical Coherence 294
2.4 Logical and Physical Name Cohesion 297
2.5 Component Source-Code Organization 333
2.6 Component Design Rules 342
2.7 Component-Private Classes and Subordinate Components 370
2.8 The Package 384
2.9 The Package Group 402
2.10 Naming Packages and Package Groups 422
2.11 Subpackages 427
2.12 Legacy, Open-Source, and Third-Party Software 431
2.13 Applications 433
2.14 The Hierarchical Testability Requirement 437
2.15 From Development to Deployment 459
2.16 Metadata 469
2.17 Summary 481
Chapter 3: Physical Design and Factoring 495
3.1 Thinking Physically 497
3.2 Avoiding Poor Physical Modularity 517
3.3 Grouping Things Physically That Belong Together Logically 555
3.4 Avoiding Cyclic Link-Time Dependencies 592
3.5 Levelization Techniques 602
3.6 Avoiding Excessive Link-Time Dependencies 704
3.7 Lateral vs. Layered Architectures 722
3.8 Avoiding Inappropriate Link-Time Dependencies 739
3.9 Ensuring Physical Interoperability 753
3.10 Avoiding Unnecessary Compile-Time Dependencies 773
3.11 Architectural Insulation Techniques 790
3.12 Designing with Components 835
3.13 Summary 908
Conclusion 923
Appendix: Quick Reference 925
Bibliography 933
Index 941

Additional information