Own the Design

Correct code can still rest on a weak design. In Computer Science II (CS2), the central questions change: What should an object be responsible for? Which behavior belongs in the public interface? Who owns each resource? Which representation makes the required operations clear, safe, and efficient?

Who This Book Is For

Own the Design is the CS2 book in the Programming by Design series and a course-length C++17 textbook for students continuing from a first programming course or equivalent experience. It assumes experience with functions, files, arrays, vectors, records, testing, and basic recursion.

What Students Learn

• turn procedural records into classes with clear public interfaces and invariants
• design abstract data types with contracts, UML, composition, and carefully limited inheritance
• trace pointers, dynamic storage, object lifetimes, copying, moving, and destruction
• implement an academic vector and linked structures, then apply restricted interfaces through stacks and queues
• test through public behavior, compare operation costs, and explain design tradeoffs

Each structure is treated as a design decision: define the client-visible behavior, choose a representation, preserve its invariants, test through the public interface, and account for operation costs.

Planned First-Edition Structure

The book is planned as 12 chapters, numbered 13 through 24, plus eight technical and curricular appendices. It includes guided examples, trace-before-code activities, chapter reviews, Programming Exercises, a staged container project, and a complete data structures project.

Current Status

Own the Design is approximately 60% complete and is not yet published. The table of contents shows the intended first-edition structure. Drafting, review, illustration, and refinement will continue across the remaining planned material before publication. No additional chapters or appendices beyond that structure are planned. Use the notification form on this page to be notified when the book is published.

Free Sample

A curated PDF and EPUB sample will be added when the manuscript is closer to publication. It will provide a coherent introduction to the book and retain the complete table of contents for prospective readers.

For Instructors

Chapter-aligned lecture slides and test banks are planned for verified instructors as the book approaches publication. They will be provided separately through a secure site as adaptable course-preparation materials, not as a hosted course or LMS integration. Visit the instructor support page for information. Faculty considering a future adoption may use the Email the Author link on this Leanpub page to ask about a future digital evaluation copy or instructor resources. Requests should come from a faculty email address and include a link to an institutional department or faculty page that confirms the requester’s affiliation. These books and their instructor resources are independently produced and are not sponsored or endorsed by the author’s employer. Assessment material should not be shared with students.

Begin with CS1

Think Before Coding provides the Computer Science I (CS1) foundation: problem analysis, tracing, testing, functions, files, collections, records, and a complete structured programming project.

Design the interface. Trace the ownership. Test the behavior. Explain the tradeoff. Own the design.