But well, anyway, i would like to try and process the data "on the go" (while reading it) if possible, as it represents a kind of "design challenge".

So, you realize that processing the data "on the go" will make for a complicated design. For me, that means "bad design" not "design challenge".

You don't get better at design by flexing your design muscles trying to do a really good job at figuring out a design for an overly complex problem.

You get better at design by learning how to recognize the most simple and cohesive parts of a problem and how to factor them out so that the parts left to be designed are fewer and/or smaller until you get to the point that everything is simple to design.

When I see something that is complicated to design, my primary reaction is to assume that things have been factored badly and reconsidering how some things have been factored is the best next step because factoring them "better" may leave me with a much simpler design problem.

Complex design problems that don't get factored into a bunch of simple design problems with minimal interconnectedness turn into complex designs and complex software and repeated failures.

That is, the correct design step when given the design challenge you gave to yourself is to say "Doing calculations 'on the fly' makes things complicated and makes it harder to separate concerns and so makes for less modular design. Is there a fundamental reason that calculations have to be done 'on the fly'? If not, we should just drop that idea from the design."

Congratulations, you will have successfully solved your design challenge when you drop it.

- tye        

In reply to Re: Design elegance : How to best design this simple program ? (modular) by tye
in thread Design elegance : How to best design this simple program ? by mascip

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