Description
Strategies for building large systems that can be easily adapted for new situations with only minor programming modifications.
Time pressures encourage programmers to write code that works well for a narrow purpose, with no room to grow. But the best systems are evolvable; they can be adapted for new situations by adding code, rather than changing the existing code. The authors describe techniques they have found effective--over their combined 100-plus years of programming experience--that will help programmers avoid programming themselves into corners.
The authors explore ways to enhance flexibility by:
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
1 Flexibility in Nature and in Design 1
2 Domain-Specific Languages 21
3 Variations on an Arithmetic Theme 67
4 Pattern Matching 157
5 Evaluation 233
6 Layering 299
7 Propagation 327
8 Epilogue 373
A Appendix: Supporting Software 377
B Appendix: Scheme 379
