26.7 Conclusion

The best single piece of advice I can give you concerning a program design is:

Do One!

Amazingly, there are a lot of people out there who start coding without thinking about what they are doing beforehand. If you think, then code, the result is much better code. A tenfold improvement can easily be achieved.

Second, show your design to your peers and get them to review it. Experience is one of the best design tools; you have the experience of others.

(The design of this chapter was reviewed by an editor. Its implementation was reviewed by the editor and a set of technical reviewers, one of whom thinks nothing of issuing forth with loud, harsh criticism whenever I do something stupid.)

Finally, C++ gives you a number of tools and techniques for designing your programs. These give you the ability to create a design that is clear, simple, and does the job. A well-designed program is a thing of beauty, so go out there and make the world a more beautiful place.