In OBJECT THINKING, esteemed object technologist David West contends that the mindset makes the programmer—not the tools and techniques. Delving into the history, philosophy, and even politics of object-oriented programming, West reveals how the best programmers rely on analysis and conceptualization—on thinking—rather than formal process and methods. Both provocative and pragmatic, this book gives form to what’s primarily been an oral tradition among the field’s revolutionary thinkers—and it illustrates specific object-behavior practices that you can adopt for true object design and superior results.

Gain an in-depth understanding of:

• Prerequisites and principles of object thinking.
• Object knowledge implicit in eXtreme Programming (XP) and Agile software development.
• Object conceptualization and modeling.
• Metaphors, vocabulary, and design for object development.

Learn viable techniques for:

• Decomposing complex domains in terms of objects.
• Identifying object relationships, interactions, and constraints.
• Relating object behavior to internal structure and implementation design.
• Incorporating object thinking into XP and Agile practice.

David West, Ph.D., is a leading educator and trainer in object-oriented software development with extensive experience consulting for Fortune 500 companies. He is a professor at New Mexico Highlands University School of Business, where he’s currently teaching an object-based curriculum and developing an innovative software development apprenticeship program based on object and agile principles. Dr. West also helped establish a software development track for computer science graduate students at the University of New Mexico. He founded and directed the Object Lab at the University of St. Thomas and cofounded the original Object Technology User Group, with more than 500 members.