There are many paths to software enlightenment, to attaining the state of development nirvana knows as ZenBoo. Masters of the art of ZenBoo can invert dependencies at will, value coding to interface* not implementation, favour composition over inheritance,** and respect the open-closed principle.***

On your journey to becoming a ZenBoodist, you will encounter many revelations and wonders. While meditating on test-driven development (TDD), you will gain deeper understanding of the technique. First you will realize the power of an automated test harness and a suite of regression tests that prevent bugs from finding their way into your code base. Next you will realize that your suite of unit tests allows you to confidently refactor your code base. Finally you will discover the power of mocking and realize that TDD is not a testing technique, but an agile design technique. Other wonders abound including better layered architectures, O/R mapping, IoC containers, and more.

How can I achieve a state of ZenBoo, you might ask? Everyone’s path is different, but I offer you a few humble suggestions. You must first understand object-oriented design. Just understanding object-oriented programming isn’t enough. You have to know how to design object-oriented hierarchies through responsibility assignment. Which object/class is responsible for X? By assigning responsibility for X to this object/class, how does that affect my coupling, cohesion, and a myriad of other factors? A good treatise on the subject is Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition) by Craig Larman.

By understanding responsibility assignment, software patterns suddenly make sense. You have a framework upon which to understand patterns and upon which to build new ones. Everyone should read Head First Design Patterns (Head First) by Eric Freeman and Elizabeth Freeman. This book offers deep insight into the ZenBoodist mind in a playful, approachable way. Although it is written for Java developers, it is equally applicable to and comprehensible by C# developers. It covers the classic “Gang of Four” software patterns, but frames them in within actual problems so that you can see how to apply them. You understand the power of coding to interface not implementation, why we favour composition over inheritance, and how to apply the open-closed principle. If you’re going to read one software book in the next year, this should be it.

Now that you understand the “Gang of Four” patterns and the basic ZenBoodist philosophies, it is time to understand how to design real-world architectures and build real-world applications. For this, we turn to Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET by Jimmy Nilsson. He blends together elements of Eric Evans’ Domain-Driven Design and Martin Fowler’s Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture to take you on a journey of discovery through TDD, mocking, O/R mappers, domain-driven design, and more.

Becoming a ZenBoodist master is a difficult journey, but one well worth it. Once you achieve development nirvana, you will code with elegance, refactor with confidence, and dream in patterns. You will also realize that you are but a humble grasshopper wanting to learn more.

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If you want to get a jumpstart on ZenBoodism, check out Jean-Paul Boodhoo‘s Nothin’ but .NET course. You get 5 days of top-notch training from a ZenBoodist master, a ReSharper 2.0 license, Martin Fowler’s Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, and free food. The next course is in Edmonton on February 19-23, 2007. Highly recommended.

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The following reference books are useful to have on your shelf, but you probably don’t want to read them cover-to-cover unless you’re crazy. (Yes, I’ve read all of these cover-to-cover and thoroughly enjoyed them.)

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<footnotes>

* Interface in this context can mean abstract base class or interface. The point is not to depend on a specific type, but on a contract definition.

** Favouring composition over inheritance does not mean abandoning inheritance. True ZenBoodists combine the powers of inheritance with composition to make truly powerful object models. While inheritance is over-used, don’t under-use it either.

*** Open-closed principle: Classes should be open for extension, but closed for modification.

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Full Disclosure: The book links above are through the Amazon Affiliates program. If you buy a book through that link, I get more books from Amazon to sate my hunger for knowledge.