Is it important to know the technical definition of “good OO”? Of “good class design”?
You might not like this, but the short answer is, “No.” (With the caveat that this answer is directed to practitioners, not theoreticians.) Mature software designers evaluate situations based on business criteria (time, money and risk) in addition to technical criteria like whether something is or is not “good OO” or “good class design.” This is a lot harder since it involves business issues (schedule, skill of the people, finding out where the company wants to go so we know where to design flexibility into the software, willingness to factor in the likelihood of future changes – changes that are likely rather than merely theoretically possible, etc.) in addition to technical issues. However it results in decisions that are a lot more likely to bring good business results. As a developer, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your employer to invest only in ways that have a reasonable expectation for a return on that investment.
