CRC card in practical use?

yipchunyu posted on Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I'm still reading the book (chapter 9 now) as to prepare to rebuild a content managment application (the old one is using ASP with COM+).  However, as a very new beginner to OO design, I would like to seek for your advice in the designing the app.
In the book, Rockford illustrated the use of CRC cards in design of the project management system.  Is it really common practice in real life to do so?  I searched around the internet and only find classes for it but no concrete example to show the use of CRC in OO design. (esp on the subject of content management app).
Do anyone would like to share their advice and experience is very much appreciated.  Thx in advance.

jules_ce replied on Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I too am interested in this CRC topic, but have also run into problems trying to find really practical examples, especially related to where they fit into whichever methodology one is using.

So here's a little *bump* for this topic - if anyone can share some thoughts?

Thanks!

yipchunyu replied on Thursday, August 10, 2006

jules_ce,
do u have any advice in designing a content management system to share?

RockfordLhotka replied on Thursday, August 10, 2006

jules_ce:

I too am interested in this CRC topic, but have also run into problems trying to find really practical examples, especially related to where they fit into whichever methodology one is using.

The book "Object Thinking" by David West has some good content around CRC based design, and he has some examples in the book.

I think that you can use CRC as part of almost any methodology, just as you might use JAD or any other analysis/design technique. CRC isn't a methodology, it is just a technique. So at the point in your methodology where design is required, you can just use CRC instead of (or along side) other design techniques.

In West's book he focuses specifically on using CRC as part of an Agile methodology - and the two do work well together. But I've used CRC in more structured engagements. (When working as a consultant, the lack of documentation in Agile can be fatal. Like it or not, CYA is a requirement in many engagements, and that means documentation...)  In that case, CRC is great for the design work, and then we translate the design into UML (class diagrams at least) for documentation purposes.