21 - CRC: FINDING OBJECTS THE EASY WAY

Summary

This article gives the longer version of the story I told above in introducing the original CRC article. I was glad Marie Lenzi gave me the chance to write it, because I was able to make an explicit public statement that Ward invented CRC, even though my name came first on the original article.

This isn't another introduction to objects with CRC. It is a philosophical look back at CRC's place in the grand scheme of things. It presents what CRC is under the hood, where it came from, and what it is good for.

NOT A METHODOLOGY

What is an article on CRC doing in an issue on methodologies? CRC isn't a methodology. What? Your consultants told you otherwise? Well, as the narrator at the beginning of any number of Disney movies would say: I was there at the beginning, so let me tell you what really happened.

PERSPECTIVE

Before I get rolling, let me say that CRC was really Ward Cunningham's idea. As you'll see later in the article, his was the insight that really tied together several strands we had been pursuing together. You'll also see how I got my name first on the paper that introduced it to the public eye. Really, though—Ward did it, I helped. I hope that sets the record straight. Now, back to your regularly scheduled article.