Visit page explaining.software/

Explaining Software Design • Buttondown

Created: May 26, 2025, 11:42 p.m. | Seen by us: Sept. 9, 2025, 4:12 p.m.

meta description if known - by Zach Tellman For the past few years, I've been working on a book about software design. Its thesis is fairly simple: Software development can be reduced to a single, iterative action. Almost everything we do in the course of a day — the pull requests, the meetings, the whiteboard diagrams, the hallway conversations — is an explanation. Our job is to explain, over and over, the meaning of our software: what it is, and what we expect it to become. In this newsletter, I'll be sharing some excerpts from my still-incomplete manuscript. I'll also share some tangential thoughts that didn't make the cut. Topics will include: practical definitions for simplicity and complexity names and metaphors the history of software design language models as software developers, and vice-versa If any of this sounds interesting, you should check out the introductory post and subscribe.

Contact Information

Email: None

Phone: None

More Details

  • h1s:
    • Explaining Software Design
    • Explaining Software Design
  • h2s:
  • h3s:
    • by Zach Tellman
  • title: Explaining Software Design • Buttondown
  • emails:
  • robots: None
  • keywords: None
  • og_title: Explaining Software Design
  • addresses:
  • canonical: https://explaining.software
  • text_size: 1076
  • rta_rating: None
  • h1_analysis: multiple
  • h2_analysis: missing
  • og_site_name: None
  • url_analysis:
  • phone_numbers:
  • summary_issues:
    • meta_description: long
    • canonical: points elsewhere
    • h1: multiple
    • No obvious responsive CSS (@media, max/min-width) detected in HTML source (may be in external CSS).
  • title_analysis: ok
  • meta_description: by Zach Tellman For the past few years, I've been working on a book about software design. Its thesis is fairly simple: Software development can be reduced to a single, iterative action. Almost everything we do in the course of a day — the pull requests, the meetings, the whiteboard diagrams, the hallway conversations — is an explanation. Our job is to explain, over and over, the meaning of our software: what it is, and what we expect it to become. In this newsletter, I'll be sharing some excerpts from my still-incomplete manuscript. I'll also share some tangential thoughts that didn't make the cut. Topics will include: practical definitions for simplicity and complexity names and metaphors the history of software design language models as software developers, and vice-versa If any of this sounds interesting, you should check out the introductory post and subscribe.
  • canonical_analysis: points elsewhere
  • responsive_analysis:
    • score: 5
    • messages_bad: ['No obvious responsive CSS (@media, max/min-width) detected in HTML source (may be in external CSS).']
    • messages_good: ['Recommended viewport tag found.']
  • searchengine_analysis:
    • score: 30
    • messages_bad: []
    • messages_good: ['Meta description tag found.', 'H1 tag(s) found.', 'Site uses HTTPS.']
  • meta_description_analysis: long