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Title: Software Fundamentals: Collected Papers by David L. Parnas by Daniel M. Hoffman, David M. Weiss ISBN: 0-201-70369-6 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 09 April, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Well-Organized Review, Insightful Content.
Comment: I consider this book on two levels:
1. How well does it capture and present the important contributions Parnas has made to the Software Engineering discipline?
2. Is the content (i.e. Parnas' papers) useful?
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This book does a beautiful job of collecting and organizing Parnas' papers. Each paper is preceeded by an introduction from a peer or other recognized prominent computer scientist. Almost all of these introductions are insightful in themselves: they help create a context for the essay which made it easier for me to fill in the gaps. Almost all of the contributors' writting styles are lucid and easy to read. I found reading through this book quite enjoyable.
Parnas' contributions are critical, no doubt. The concept of Information Hiding as a criteria for modular decomposition really helped form modern "object-oriented" thinking. It seems to me that returning to the first well-formed idea can often grant insights into how to be more effective with its offspring. Indeed, Chapter 7 in this text is essentially a primer on how to think in object-oriented terms.
You'll not find a passage that reads, "now here's an example of that in Java/C#/C++" But that's the blessing: Parnas communicates the essence of the principles that yield quality software engineering without getting lost in unnecessary details. The fact that some of these papers were written 30 years ago helps bring home the fact that novel ideas are rare.
One aspect of 30 year-old writtings that may be a stumbling block for similarly aged programmers is that these works live in an iron world: where programs lived very close to their hardware. Parnas uses phrases like "4 bytes packed in a word" and "core" that seem primal (not to say that some folks aren't concerned with word-sizes and which endian, just that the overall percentage is much lower). For some, this may seem to be a waste of time to try to understand. I encourage the reader to ferret out the bigger message...the more abstract picture of principles that guide one to conceive, organize, implement and document quality software.
If you are a journeyman programmer looking for the original latin, enjoy this well-polished collection for yourself.
Rating: 5
Summary: Still relevant in the world of Software Engineering
Comment: Anyone who considers themself a Java developer should know who Dave Parnas is. Without the insight of Dave Parnas in the 60s and 70s there would be no such thing as the Java programming language. Ever heard of information hiding (the basis for all Object Oriented programming)? Yeah, Parnas came up with that. Exception Handling? That's him too. Interfaces? Parnas. (Get the idea?)
This book reprints 33 of Parnas' most influential papers. Each paper is started off with an introduction from one of Parnas' peers (like Barry Boehm), giving the paper a connection to the modern state of Software Engineering, and trying to give the reader an understanding of just how seminal the particular paper was to the world of Computer Science and Software Engineering.
I believe you become a much better programmer if you understand where things come from. Once you understand how things were before "Information Hiding" came about, you get a better appreciation for why its such a necessary and important practice. You'll become a better programmer because you're more aware of what would happen if you didn't have exception handling. And you'll be come a better writer when you understand why buzzwords can be so dangerous in technical papers.
Dave Parnas has been a huge influence over the world of Software Engineering. Everyone should have the chance to read his work.
Rating: 5
Summary: The most influential book I've read on software engineering!
Comment: The ideas presented in this collection of papers changed forever the way I think about developing sofware. These papers separate the men from the boys. If you understand the concepts layed out by Parnas in these papers you are well along your way to understanding the fundamentals necessary for developing quality software. The papers are clearly research oriented and don't have modern real world applications presented in the text, however, the ideas are timeless. The reader will need to make some connections with the modern world on their own. It is well worth the time and effort to read and digest what Parnas has to say.
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Title: Doing Hard Time: Developing Real-Time Systems with UML, Objects, Frameworks and Patterns by Bruce Powel Douglass ISBN: 0201498375 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 11 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $69.99 |
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Title: Managing Meetings (Essential Managers) by Tim Hindle ISBN: 0789424479 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Software Architecture in Practice, Second Edition by Len Bass, Paul Clements, Rick Kazman ISBN: 0321154959 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 09 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $54.99 |
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Title: The Handbook of Technical Writing, Seventh Edition by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Oliu ISBN: 0312309236 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 14 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $38.95 |
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Title: Making Presentations (Essential Managers) by Tim Hindle ISBN: 0789424495 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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