At the time, very few books truly focused on the bigger picture, dealing with the development of large software systems. Among these were John Lakos’s Large Scale C++ Software Design, a great but literally heavy introduction to dependency management, and the so-called Gang of Four book, which is the classic book on software design patterns. Unfortunately, over the years, this situation hasn’t really changed: most books, talks, blogs, etc., primarily focus on language mechanics and features—the small details and specifics. Very few, and in my opinion way too few, new releases focus on maintainable software, changeability, extensibility, and testability. And if they try to, they unfortunately quickly fall back into the common habit of explaining language mechanics and demonstrating features.

This is why I’ve written this book. A book that does not, in contrast to most others, spend time on the mechanics or the many features of the language, but primarily focuses on changeability, extensibility, and testability of software in general. A book that does not pretend that the use of new C++ standards or features will make the difference between good or bad software, but instead clearly shows that it is the management of dependencies that is decisive, that the dependencies in our code decide between it being good or bad. As such, it is a rare kind of book in the world of C++ indeed, as it focuses on the bigger picture: software design.

Who This Book Is For

This book is of value to every C++ developer. In particular, it is for every C++ developer interested in understanding the usual problems of maintainable software and learning about common solutions to these problems (and I assume that is indeed every C++ developer). However, this book is not a C++ beginner’s book. In fact, most of the guidelines in this book require some experience with software development in general and C++ in particular. For instance, I assume that you have a firm grasp of the language mechanics of inheritance hierarchies and some experience with templates. Then I can reach for the corresponding features whenever necessary and appropriate. Once in a while, I will even reach for some C++20 features (in particular C++20 concepts). However, as the focus is on software design, I will rarely dwell on explaining a particular feature, so if a feature is unknown to you, please consult your favorite C++ language reference. Only occasionally will I add some reminders, mostly about common C++ idioms (such as the Rule of 5).