This book of essays, originally a series of columns for the Journal of Object Oriented Programming, falls into three main parts:
Patterns for software
Christopher Alexander's idea of
Pattern Languages have been enthusiastically taken up by the
object oriented software
community. But that community has focussed on the technological side of
the idea, and have neglected the 'Quality
Without a Name' that is key to Alexander's work. They have
completely missed the point. But what is the analogy of this Quality when
applied to software?
Alexander himself writes the Preface, praising Gabriel for understanding his work better than do some of his architecture colleagues, but pointing out that he has done more since Gabriel 'stopped reading', in particular, the new 'Nature of Order' series, soon to be published.
Programming languages
Some thoughts of reuse; whether inheritance is a good idea or just
leads to incomprehensible programs; and the fact that programs tend to be
maintained and changed over their lifetimes, not just written and frozen,
but our use of abstractions doesn't help us in such a lifecycle.
Biography
The author's traumatic route through the education system, and his
successes and failures with his company, Lucid. He names names, and pulls
few punches. A fascinating (if necessarily one-sided) view of clashing
office politics and technological vision.