Clean Code

Grady Booch, author of 
Object
Oriented Analysis and Design with 
Applications
Clean code is simple and direct. Clean code
reads like well-written prose. Clean code never
obscures the designer’s intent but rather is full
of crisp abstractions and straightforward lines
of control.
Grady makes some of the same points as
Bjarne, but he takes a 
readability
perspective. I
especially like his view that clean code should
read like well-written prose. Think back on a
really good book that you’ve read. Remember how the words disappeared to be replaced
by images! It was like watching a movie, wasn’t it? Better! You saw the characters, you
heard the sounds, you experienced the pathos and the humor.
Reading clean code will never be quite like reading 
Lord of the Rings
. Still, the liter-
ary metaphor is not a bad one. Like a good novel, clean code should clearly expose the ten-
sions in the problem to be solved. It should build those tensions to a climax and then give
3.
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/booksellers/2004-12.html

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9
The Total Cost of Owning a Mess
the reader that “Aha! Of course!” as the issues and tensions are resolved in the revelation
of an obvious solution. 
I find Grady’s use of the phrase “crisp abstraction” to be a fascinating oxymoron!
After all the word “crisp” is nearly a synonym for “concrete.” My MacBook’s dictionary
holds the following definition of “crisp”: 
briskly decisive and matter-of-fact, without hesi-
tation or unnecessary detail. 
Despite this seeming juxtaposition of meaning, the words
carry a powerful message. Our code should be matter-of-fact as opposed to speculative.
It should contain only what is necessary. Our readers should perceive us to have been
decisive.