Books on Design

In one of my comments, someone asked me the book that I would recommend from Rebecca Wirfs-Brock. And I thought why not just put some of my favorites into a list? So, here's my list in no particular order, but all of these come highly recommended:

• Designing Object-Oriented Software : THE book on OO design and analysis. This one keeps it simple and is awesome. Mrs. Wirfs-Brock will always be one of my heroes that I aspire to.
• Domain Driven Design: And I'm not saying this because of my involvement with TimeAndMoney. Eric is not a great mentor, but an awesome author. If you want to learn how to write REAL DSLs, this is the book. Learn to talk through your domain. Read this cover to cover. There is not one paragraph not to be savored. I went to the first Smalltalk Solutions just to meet him. Seriously...
• The Design Patterns Smalltalk Companion: This is the book where you learn a lot of the hidden secrets in Smalltalk and that all of the design patterns started there. This is an awesome book and reads better than the original. Buy this even if you don't know Smalltalk. It's that good.
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: I don't know one person who has read this and not have had the way they look at software be different. Learn to be a magician. This opened a lot of possibilities for me. It made me much more creative in my solutions.
• Prefactoring: A lot of Agile enthusiasts got upset with this book because they didn't read it. This book dares to followers to do what they say: Think about their designs. This is also a great book if you want to learn more about DSLs. All good OO models are DSLs. If you're not doing a language with your models, you are doing something wrong.
• Agile Software Development: Robert Martin hits a home run with this book. This is what people who think Agile is about no design, should read this. Being agile is about thinking. I know a lot of Agilists get that, but I have come across many who think it's all about coding and no thought. This book goes beyond Agile and talks about good ole great design.
• Software Fundamentals: These articles were written before I even knew what a computer was and they are still relevant today as they were then. You'll either walk away from this bewildered at what we keep rediscovering or notice how a lot of stuff that seems new is really rebranded. This book is just an awesome tomb of software experience from one of the early innovators. His views on encapsulation really changed the way I look at design. Awesome book.
• A functional pattern system for object-oriented design: Functional programming for object-oriented programmers. I love functional programming and by studying it. My thoughts on development and design have changed. This book shows that they both can share ideas from each other and become stronger. This is a fantastic book that should get more accolades. It shows what great things can be done if OO and functional programmers put their powers together for good.
• Every single book that Martin Fowler has had his name on or associated with. They all rock. Analysis patterns is really the crowning jewel (again, if you want to do DSLs, learn from the master). But, all of his books are easy to read and will teach you volumes.
  

I could go on all night, but I'll stop here for now. I didn't even get to the books that I love from Gerald Weinberg, Donald Norman, Shlaer-Mellor, and more, but I will make that for another blog entry. Also, I'm a big junkie for all of the pattern series books. Nothing takes my money quicker than a pattern book. They are chock full of ideas on design and clever solutions.