Conclusion

• Start where you are, used what you have, help who you can.

Think about your favorite piece of research software. You may ask:

• Does it do what it’s supposed to?

• Is it comfortable to use?

We should also ask:

• Did its design facilitate its manufacture and maintenance?

We don’t have a shared vocabulary and a suite of canonical examples that would let us critique the design of research software the way we can the design of a chair or a stapler. We use words like “elegant”, but quickly run out of meaning when asked to explain what that means.

I hope this book will help us do better. I hope that some day we’ll be able to talk meaningfully about the beauty of software because it is beautiful and we deserve to have ways to say that. Until then: