Explore Products

Best Sellers

New Releases

Books

Videos

Audiobooks

Free Learning

Understanding Software

You're reading from Understanding Software Max Kanat-Alexander on simplicity, coding, and how to suck less as a programmer

Product type Paperback

Published in Sep 2017

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781788628815

Length 278 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Concepts

Application Development

Author (1):

Max Kanat-Alexander

View More author details

Table of Contents (15) Chapters

1. Table of Contents FREE CHAPTER

2. Understanding Software

3. Credits

4. About the Author

5. www.PacktPub.com

6. Customer Feedback

7. Foreword

8. One. Principles for Programmers

9. Two. Software Complexity and its Causes

10. Three. Simplicity and Software Design

11. Four. Debugging

12. Five. Engineering in Teams

13. Six. Understanding Software

14. Seven. Suck Less

15. Index

Chapter 40. Users Have Problems, Developers Have Solutions

In the world of software, it is the job of software developers to solve the problems of users. Users present a problem, and the developers solve it. Whenever these roles are reversed, trouble ensues.

If you ever want to see a bloated, useless, complex piece of software, find one where the developers implemented every solution that any user ever suggested. It's true that the users are the people who know what the problem is, and that sometimes, they have novel ideas for solutions. But the people making the final decision on how a problem is to be solved should always be the developers of the system, not its users.

This problem can be particularly bad when you're writing software for a small number of users internally at an organization. The users who you are writing for often have inordinate power over you, by virtue of being executives or being close to executives. They can, quite literally, tell you what to do...

The rest of the chapter is locked

Register for a free Packt account to unlock a world of extra content!

A free Packt account unlocks extra newsletters, articles, discounted offers, and much more. Start advancing your knowledge today.

Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days

Get unlimited access to 7000+ expert-authored eBooks and videos courses covering every tech area you can think of

Start free trial

Renews at $19.99/month. Cancel anytime

Authors (1)

Max Kanat-Alexander

Max Kanat-Alexander

Max Kanat-Alexander is the Technical Lead for Code Health at Google, where he does various work that helps other software engineers be more productive, including writing developer tools, creating educational programs, guiding refactoring efforts, and more. His roles at Google have included Tech Lead for YouTube on the Xbox, work on the Java JDK, JVM, and other aspects of Java for Google, and Technical Lead for Engineering Practices for YouTube, where he's supported developers across all of YouTube in best practices and engineering productivity. Max is a former Chief Architect of the Bugzilla Project, where he was one of the two main developers of the well-known Bugzilla Bug-Tracking System, used by thousands of organizations worldwide. Max also writes the legendary programming industry blog, Code Simplicity, where he challenges Complexity and embraces Simplicity for the programming industry. Max has been involved for several years at Google with enabling developers to work more effectively and helping shape engineering practice, and in this highly readable collection of essays you can share the best of his experience.

See other products by Max Kanat-Alexander

Other recommended products

Related to this chapter

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

101 UX Principles

101 UX Principles

Explore 101 ways to improve your UX designs. Will Grant continues the lineage of Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman to bring his own expertise to the field of user experience (UX). Will's insights will challenge your approach and develop your skills, offering a better and more consistent UX to your customers.

Aug 2018 13h 48m

Personalised recommendations for you

Based on your interests and search pattern

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

Pragmatic Microservices with C# and Azure

This book empowers you with in-depth knowledge of microservices architecture using .NET and Azure. Through hands-on tutorials, you'll be able to build, deploy, and manage scalable applications, gaining crucial skills for modern software development.

May 2024 16h 56m

Mastering Python Design Patterns

Mastering Python Design Patterns

Unlock the power of design patterns to build maintainable and scalable software and applications using Python. Authored by Python veterans, this book is your guide to mastering design patterns in Python.

May 2024 9h 52m

Mastering Python Design Patterns

Mastering Python Design Patterns

Unlock the power of design patterns to build maintainable and scalable software and applications using Python. Authored by Python veterans, this book is your guide to mastering design patterns in Python.

May 2024 9h 52m