Oh, so you want an example, eh? You want something real? You're tired of all the theory and lecture—you got through all those videos about the component principles, and now you want to see how they're actually used.

Well, do I have good news for you! Because that's just exactly what this episode is all about. We call it the Component Case Study and it's all about studying cases.

We're going to study big cases, small cases, round cases, square cases, suit cases, hat cases—all kinds of cases. By the time you're done with this video you're going to know cases inside and out.

No, that's wrong. It's not about cases, it's about components. It's about component principles. In fact, it's a detailed examination of just how those principles are used to solve a real problem.

The problem we tackle is the Payroll problem from Episode 14. Remember: in that episode we applied the SOLID principles in order to create an object-oriented design that partitioned the problem into classes and relationships? Well now, in this episode we're going to take those classes and we're going to apply the component principles to them, creating an architecture of independently-deployable components.

But, it's not just going to be as simple as that. Oh no! First we're going to look at lots of wrong ways to break the problem into components—ways you might even recognize from past projects. We're also going to spend a considerable amount of time talking about, and using, component families as an organizational concept.

So, make sure your cases are all packed and ready to go, because we're going to study those cases as we embark upon The Component Case Study!


The diagrams for this episode can be downloaded here.