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Title: Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers by Steve McConnell ISBN: 0-321-19367-9 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 30 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (15 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Hello Big Process And Certification
Comment: This book is a guide for running most software organizations into the ground. The author is correct in identifying "code and fix" as a bad way of developing software, but the material here is swing too far in the other direction. McConnell suggests that certification and licensing for software engineers is the way to improve software along with adherence to ISO and/or CMM. Certification only implies that someone can pass a test, but it does not show that they can create quality, useful software. Also, the rate of change of technology for software development is too high to support licensing. The ACM pulled out of the SWEBOK effort for this reason.
"Code and fix" is a problem, but McConnell does not present a reasonable solution. Look at Pete McBreen's "Software Craftsmanship" for a better alternative and more information as to why certification and licensing is not the way to go.
I will say that the chapter on Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator for software developers is very intersting, and it gives some insight into the kind of people that excel at developing software. Even books that are way off base can provide a good nugget here and there.
Rating: 5
Summary: Another Classic by Mr. McConnell
Comment: In this single book, Mr. McConnell has managed to summarize all of the arguments for 'building software the right way'. It is non-intuitive to individuals who have little or no training in software engineering, including programmers. When I used to interview VB programmers my first question was always 'Describe the Implements keyword'.
For many business people they feel that if you are not coding then you are not making progress, which is just plain wrong if you are in the early stages of a project. This often puts us (as project leaders) in the position of educating the client. This book is incredibly helpful for just such an endeavor. There are so many great points that I have used in helping me overcome the non-intuitive parts of development.
The statistics for our industry are abysmal (in terms of budgets over-runs, cancelled projects, etc.). If everyone read this book, and stopped coding for a few hours and actually THOUGHT more about the problem (especially for OO development - doing UML, CRC Cards or SOMETHING) in my opinion (after coding for 20 years - 13 of them professionally) our industry would be in much better shape. Even better would be if you can get your team using design patterns, pair programming (in many cases this is a good idea but not in all), agile development techniques, and other general 'best practices'.
I am constantly under pressure to code before it is appropriate to do so. It is hard to explain to a CEO that you need time to do what they believe is 'drawing pretty pictures'. However, reducing dependencies (and when you have them, making them dependent on abstract classes and/or interfaces NOT concrete implementation), not to mention model/view/controller type patterns are the difference between turning on a dime (say adding a web services API in a few weeks) or spending 6 months on a rewrite.
I cannot say enough good things about this book.
Kind Regards,
Damon Carr, CTO
Monetaire
www.monetaire.com
Rating: 3
Summary: Excellent Diagnosis, Questionable Solution.
Comment: As the author of the software's industry's classic tomes, "Code Complete" and "Rapid Development", anything by Steve McConnell is required reading. However, I believe that "Professional Software Development" along with its parent text, "After The Goldrush" is highly unlikely to have the impact of his earlier work.
McConnell remains at his best when detailing the problems of the industry and few will argue with his call for the adoption of established best practices and the creation of a better-qualified, structured and more accountable profession. The contentious area is his attempt to base this profession on engineering; a discipline that many feel is not an appropriate metaphor for the distinct and unique task of producing software.
Other industry authorities, in particular, Alan Cooper, have eloquently and convincingly denounced this view of software design and construction as engineering, and it seems to lead the author into some increasingly strange territory, for example his bizarre proposal that prospective software practitioners should study traditional engineering topics!
In swimming against the tide of movements such as Cooper's Interaction Design, Fowler's Agile Development and Beck's Extreme Programming, I would suggest that McConnell's ideas on creating an engineering-based Profession, are unlikely to see widspread adoption outside of the large-scale developers of in-house, scientific applications.
For all this, the book is still an interesting and stimulating read, but I suspect that many are still hoping that McConnell will return to his area of true expertise - the software construction process - and revise Code Complete to incorporate the latest methodologies and environments.
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Title: Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister ISBN: 0932633609 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Rapid Development by Steve McConnell ISBN: 1556159005 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 02 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Software Project Survival Guide by Steve C McConnell ISBN: 1572316217 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 14 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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Title: Software Requirements, Second Edition by Karl E. Wiegers ISBN: 0735618798 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 26 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Code Complete by Steve McConnell ISBN: 1556154844 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 14 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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