The 4+1 View Model

In this blog, I will discuss and review the videos called "4+1 View Into Software Architecture" and "Six Blind Men", as well as the article titled "The Elephant and the Blind Programmers" by Grady Booch written in 2010.

Often times when developing, we don’t take into consideration the interactions users will have into our system and in doing so, we degrade the experience of what we build.

The interaction can vary from user to user. That's what we see in the video where the blind men interact with the elephant. Their interpretation of what that elephant is like varies because of their different perspectives and because they chose different parts of the elephant to make that judgement. And that's all good, because having a different interpretation doesn’t mean they are wrong. Because the combination of their interpretation defines what they experienced very well. In the end they gave a very clear description, although abstract, of an elephant.

Grady accomplishes to transform this analogy into the world of programming through his article. Each programmer can give a different perspective of what they see in the program. This perspectives can be pinpointed to different models, like the process view or the development view. And combining the different views gives a well description of what the developed system is.

The takeaway from this lesson is basically to try to see the problem and the solution from every possible angle. This is firstly accomplished by a well thought analysis of its components and making a relation between all of them. Preparation and different courses (like the one we are taking now), help us to achieve this perspective and cover must of the angles. Also, this can be a reason to have a well rounded team of people when developing a project, because we can (almost)  guarantee that every aspect is being taken into consideration.