Slightly Skeptical
Software Engineering Bibliography

The apotheosis of meaningless measurement, June 26, 1999
Reviewer: j.bach from Front Royal, Virginia
Sometimes I question the need for philosophy, then a book like this comes along and I remember why philosophy is important. Philosophers do us the service of carefully analyzing premises, claims, and all the varied artifices of thought. Philosophers notice the clouds beneath the castle. Watts Humphrey's book is in need of a philosophical overhaul. It is a fine expression of 19th-century ideas about scientific management and the nature of human cognition, but takes little note of modern revelations about how human minds work, and how software design happens.

The book is an ode to measurement. Humphrey doesn't justify or explain his measurement theory, though. He seems more intent on telling us what to do than on helping us ask questions like "What do these numbers mean?" He proposes ways to measure quality, but not ways to understand goodness; ways to measure productivity, but not ways to understand productivity in relation to our ambitions. Reflection, inspiration, collaboration, dialogue, discovery, invention, ingenuity, all of these vital processes are ignored in his calculus. But since his calculus is embedded in a prescription for what we're supposed to do, anything left out is driven underground (or underwater, like an animal that doesn't get a ticket for Noah's Ark). It's a good thing for the technology that so few people are disciplined in the way Humphrey proposes.

I just want to point out that there is an alternative to the Brave New World of Watts Humphrey and the SEI. Search for books by Gerald Weinberg and you'll find a polar opposite view of software engineering as a social and cognitive discipline. Weinberg's book on measurement "Quality Software Management, Vol. 2: First-Order Measurement" is a must read.

I also recommend "Things That Make Us Smart" and "Cognition in the Wild", two books that startled me by showing how much cognitive psychology could help the software engingeering craft, if ever we computer people but wake up and take notice.

Discipline is important in any search for excellence. Let's build our discipline on a sound and meaningful foundation, eh?

**** The Pragmatic Programmer From Journeyman to Master

by Andrew Hunt, David Thomas, Ward Cunningham (Preface)

Our Price: $34.95

Textbook Binding - 352 pages 1 edition (October 13, 1999)
Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 020161622X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x 9.22 x 7.40
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 2,733
Popular in:
Avg. Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 17

Are you programming or hacking?	June 3, 2000
Reviewer: Steve Hayes (see more about me) from New York
...and what's the difference? I've often felt that the difference was attitude. Programmers (or "professionals" if you prefer) were continually thinking about what they did, why they did it and how they could do it better. And I don't just mean searching for a new language ("maybe I should learn Java this week?").The rest of us are just tooling around doing the best we can and wondering why it sometimes doesn't work. "The Pragmatic Programmer" is clearly written by and for professional programmers. Reading it with attention will force you to think deeply about the way you develop software. If your first response is "but this isn't pragmatic" or "I don't have time to do these things" then I encourage you to think again. Perhaps the barrier is change itself. Sure, applying the practices in this book may slow you down in the short term (you always go slower when you're learning a new skill) but the benefits to establishing these practices as habits are enormous. We are working through this book as part of a weekly study group at our office. This seems to be a great way to investigate things you're uncomfortable. And I don't agree with every practice in this book, but please think about them as deeply as you can before you reject them! Whenever I interview someone I ask them what book has most influenced the way they develop software. If they answer "The Pragmatic Programmer" (or "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance") then they have the job!
A perfect guideline for programmers	October 29, 1999
Reviewer: Thanh T. Giang ([email protected]) from Pearl City, Hawaii
This book is decades overdue. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned programmer, it's not too late to learn effective and efficient ways to design and code industrial strength applications. In today's competitive software environment, one cannot risk working without the techniques presented by the "Pragmatic Programmers." Andrew Hunt and David Thomas definitely know what they are talking about. Each chapter emphasizes new ways to improve and strengthen your current skills. If programming is your intended profession, don't waste another day doing things the wrong way. Start with the right frameset and place yourself among the "Pragmatic Programmers."
Wisdom and Humor -- what a rare find	May 31, 2000
Reviewer: Holm Court (see more about me) from NYC
This is, simply, a wonderful book. It is a book that celebrates the real depth of great programming -- something that is too often forgotten or ignored. This is not an idiot's guide to anything -- it is a remarkably entertaining set of dozens of tips to becoming better at what you do, especially if that happens to be programming. The tips are deceptively simple at times, but only a truly naive or inexperienced reader would miss the rich depth that their combination presents. In fact, that is the real beauty of this book -- it does not present some short-lived miracle-cure approach -- instead, it weaves together small bits of wisdom and practical advice into a powerful work-style. They have some controversial views -- these authors are witty and opinionated -- but agreeing or disagreeing with each individual idea is not the point -- "seeing the forest" is. There are numerous specific code examples, but the book is a fun and easy read -- strangely, I also think it would be a wonderful book for someone who is NOT a programmer, but who works with them, perhaps a business manager having a major system built. Even skipping all the really technical parts, it would be a wonderful set of benchmarks to assess how good your programmers really are -- much more powerful than "he has 3 years of C++, 2 years of Linux"... I am hoping this writing team will follow this book with some specific guides as well, but this one is destined to be a classic. These guys really know what they are talking about, and, as a wonderful bonus, they are terrific writers, as well! The book has gotten great reviews on slashdot, as well as a couple of programming magazines, including Dr Dobbs and Software Development -- they were well deserved. Buy IT!

Patterns of Software Tales from the Software Community

Our Price: $11.96

Paperback - 256 pages Reprint edition (May 1998)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195121236 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.73 x 9.22 x 6.19
Other Editions: Hardcover

Amazon.com Sales Rank: 87,028
Avg. Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 4

A painfully honest look at life in the software business

Reviewer: [email protected] from Portland, Oregon USA June 8,1999

There are many people who can operate a word processor with sufficient skill to create a book about computers and software that someone will publish; there are only a few published authors in our business who are also truly good writers. Richard Gabriel is one of the latter. In "Performance and Evaluation of Lisp Systems," he showed he could create a lively book on possibly the single most esoteric subject imaginable. In "Patterns of Software," he demonstrates his skill in essays ranging from patterns in Turkish carpets to the hard lessons of software startups, from the joys of riding cross-country in a Corvette at 125 mph to the often demeaning life of a graduate student. The last essay alone, "Money through Innovation Reconsidered," would justify purchase of the book. Gabriel does a masterful job of analyzing one of the apparent paradoxes of software engineering: that the "best-engineered" software products can be spectacular failures in the market (e.g. Common Lisp, for reasons Gabriel dissects in depth; and, remember Ada?), while the most successful products have a ball-of-mud-that-just-grew quality (yesterday DOS; today Linux). The more time you have been schooled in "the right way" to build software, the harder this truth is to accept; but it is truth nonetheless, for reasons Gabriel lays out succinctly. The essay deserves a place near Arthur C. Clarke's classic SF short story "Superiority." Read both and you'll see the connection. Speaking of connections: many of the essays in "Patterns of Software" deal with Gabriel's multi-decade fascination with the work of Christopher Alexander on finding the underlying patterns in architecture that make buildings pleasing and habitable, with Gabriel asking the eminently reasonable question whether such patterns also exist for designing software that is pleasing to use. These essays are stimulating, but have a vaguely surreal quality when one notes that Gabriel has spent most of his professional life in Palo Alto, Alexander most of his in Berkeley, but -- according to Alexander's foreword to "Patterns of Software" -- the two have never met in person to discuss their ideas. Should either happen to read this review, I will make Gabriel and Alexander the following offer: pick a place in the Bay area. Make sure it has lots of "the quality without a name" (Alexander's phrase for what other people would call a lived-in quality or sense of rightness). The kind of Italian place in North Beach where the Beat poets used to argue 'til dawn would do nicely. Let's have dinner. I'll pick up the tab. It will be worth it.

Many fascinating anecdotes about real-world software design.

Reviewer: Michael C. Vanier from Pasadena, California May 20, 1998

This book is a very interesting and entertaining read for anyone who is involved (or is thinking of getting involved) in serious software development. Despite the title, only the first section of the book is devoted to pattern languages. The rest of the book is a selection of stories and musings about issues such as computer language choice, language size, running a software company, and the author's own personal history. The material on patterns is interesting in that it focuses on the founder of the patterns movement, the architect Christopher Alexander. Gabriel tries to find parallels between successful software designs and successful buildings. He identifies several key ingredients, particularly "habitability" and "piecemeal growth". Essentially these boil down to the idea that the users must feel comfortable with the software, and it must be possible to extend the software incrementally as needs change. Gabriel has a refreshing skepticism about "silver-bullet" strategies and his insights often go against conventional wisdom, which makes for thought-provoking reading. The last sections of the book are an account of his path through academia and his experiences as the founder of Lucid, Inc. There are a lot of horror stories here, which are fascinating and frightening to read. My only complaint with the book is that it seems so focused on negatives (e.g. what can't be achieved, how bad people will shaft you every step of the way) that it gets pretty depressing. I wish there had been a couple of success stories along the way, or at least a less gloomy outlook. Some of the pessimistic predictions (which are several years old by now) also seem pretty silly in retrospect, such as the prediction that C will be the last programming language. Still, this is a very interesting book for software developers and has a very sobering effect. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

***** recommended when you want to contemplate a software career

Reviewer: Mark R. Thomsen ([email protected]) from Torrance, California October 17, 1997

I spied this book and picked it up for two reasons: "patterns" and the author. I know something of Gabriel's career through Lucid. He is a certified software wizard. And I was curious if anyone would write something on software patterns that would transcend the obvious and perhaps even find a real tie-in to Alexander's architecture work. And then there was a foreword by Alexander. And a tale of Gabriel's rising from failure (or a bad position) again again. Unique. Interesting. So I bought it and I read it one afternoon. There is nothing there for immediate application. No programs. No recipes for overnight success. Just contemplation on how things work. Software. Academia. Industry. And, yes, a bit on life. It does something so few books do. It gives you new perspectives and new questions, and gets you creating new perspectives and asking new questions. It makes you think. At least it did me. One further point. So few in the software field can really write well. Gabriel writes well.

Software trekkies compile at lightspeed!

Reviewer: A reader March 4, 1997

You can't begin with the footnotes, looking for crusty anecdotes: the only one merely is an explanation. You can't directly jump to the index either, aiming at your favorite hottest topic, cross jumping from subjects to keywords, reading paragraphs while thinking you thouroughly read the book: there are only references at the end of the book. And you'd better go through these carefully, to get the taste of what you're about to read: architecture, philosophy, turkish carpets, epistemology, greek wars, biology, style and... management, software engineering and programming languages. Indeed, you may think that a book whose title targets one of the hottest topics in software engineering (one topic eligible for an appearance in the well-known "wired" column --- although it hasn't yet, controversially aligned with something you'd better be "tired" of) should go into the details of the programming and software tricks you need to boost your own project. Well, Richard Gabriel's opus does not. Navigating freely through the essays, you eventually realize Gabriel has a more ambitious vision than teaching his lattest hacking techniques: bridging architecture and software. That is, art and science. Indeed, when stuck with problems in your own field, why not try to learn from other fields? And, in particular, why not try to learn when the words, the processes, the results (and even the failures) so closely echo with those you experience in your day-to-day activity? To achieve such a difficult goal, Gabriel's "Patterns of Software" takes you by the hand, stepping the assembly language of architecture to shed light on that of software. Looking for the realm of beautiful software in the land of beautiful buildings, Gabriel decompiles the work of the architect Christopher Alexander who devoted his life to the realization of beautiful buildings. Gabriel imports architectural notions and concepts (habitability, piecemeal growth, patterns), aiming at a suitable instantiation that would make sotware beautiful as well. Gabriel even finds materials to talk about architectural bugs and spends an essay (titled "the failure of pattern languages") debugging. And in a last reflexive effort, Gabriel decompiles himself, his life, and the company he funded and which later failed, Lucid Inc. But does Gabriel's bridging succeed? You'll wish to end up your journey with the foreword written by Christopher Alexander himself, to agree that the question remains... And that it is not the point. This book is a pioneering brand: neither success nor failure, simply the user guide to go where no programmer has gone before. The reading-risk is to become a software-trekkie. Interested? --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Probably useful ;-)

****+ Code Complete : A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

Steve McConnell / Paperback / Published 1993 Our Price: $28.00 ~ You Save: $7.00 (20%)

It's strange -- the author is a consultant and never was responsible for a sizable software project. Still the book is good.

	The single best book on the craft of writing software.	April 6, 2000
	Reviewer: Tod Gentille from Los Angeles
	McConnell has read years and years worth of computer science literature and distilled it into an extremely readable format. It is a hefty 800+ pages but you will rip through it and enjoy every minute. McConnell combines wit and valuable information into a gem of a technical book. If you program and you haven't read this book you are doing yourself a great disservice. McConnell also goes to great lengths to avoid dogma. He presents many sides to what sometimes seem like religous issues in programming. He gives you the information to make your own decisions. Trust me, you MUST read this book.
	"Code Complete" Considered Harmful for C Programmers	January 31, 2000
	Reviewer: Roger Miller from Mililani, Hawaii
	Although "Code Complete" is in many respects a worthwhile compilation of experience that is otherwise difficult to find in one place, when it comes to specifics of C programming its virtues are marred by numerous errors and un-C-like style. It is clear that the author had little experience, and was rather uncomfortable, with the language. Classic beginner blunders like incorrect end of file tests, macros which produce syntax errors in some contexts, sequence point errors, and confusion about null pointers are generously represented. We are advised to use names which begin with underscores (in ignorance of the C standard) and "cute" macros like "#define AND &&" which experienced C programmers hold in low regard for good reasons. Granted, this is not written as a C programming text. Still, there is lots of C-specific advice and C programming examples, and readers deserve a more professional treatment. Given the popularity of this book it would be nice to see its flaws corrected in a second edition. In the meantime read it for its general advice, but learn your C from the experts. (Kernighan & Ritchie, Harbison & Steele, and Steve Summit's book length FAQ won't lead you wrong.)
	MOST STUFF ARE ONLY USEFUL FOR COLLEGE FRESHMEN	December 24, 1999
	Reviewer: Michael Lim (see more about me) from Sillicon Valley, CA
	Like a few previous reviewers said, this book contains very little new materials for 857 pages if you either are a senior student in Computer Science major or you have completed one course in S/W Engineering. This book is only useful for freshmen who want to be ahead of the game. Some bad things about this book are that it takes almost 900 pages to say what can be said in less than a few hundred pages. Furthermore, many things mentioned in the book are just common sense that you should have learned/known by the time of your senior year. The worst thing is that a lot of times the author only mentions what exists, but doesn't explain to readers what it is, what it is good for, or how to do/use it. Good things are that it has a few good chapters regarding S/W construction phrases. These are probably those chapters that offer you new insights. Again you have to read a great number of pages to learn a few things. My advice is to check it out from the library first. Then decide if you should pay for it. Hope the book will work better for you. If you have read this book, give me/others your review/opinions.
	Great book for beginners only	October 8, 1999
	Reviewer: Mike23 from Austria
	Junior programmers will probably enjoy this book, but profi programmers won't find more than 5% of this book useful. There is too much theory, and the whole book would fit to 300 pages (instead of 840). Buy this book if you dont have more than 2-3 years of software-construction experience. This book would deserve 5 stars, when you change the name to: "Code complete: a practical handbook of software construction for BEGINNERS". For experienced programmers is 3 stars rating of this book more than enough...

**** Refactoring : Improving the Design of Existing Code (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Martin Fowler, et al / Hardcover / Published 1999
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***** Excellent catalog of source code transformations	March 16, 2000
Reviewer: [email protected] (see more about me)
Learn how to improve your code using 73 refactorings. Sixty seven percent (49/73) of the refactorings are specific to object-oriented languages such as Java, C++, and Smalltalk. Refactoring promotes a healthy approach to maintenance programming. "When you find you have to add a feature to a program, and the program's code is not structured in a convenient way to add the feature, first refactor the program to make it easy to add the feature, then add the feature." Fowler's systematic approach and insistence on regression tests insures that each refactoring will not break any existing code. The constant application of appropriate refactoring results in reliable and clear source code. Some refactorings are opposite pairs such as "Add parameter", "Remove parameter" and "Replace Delegation with Inheritance", "Replace Inheritance with Delegation". A refactoring may have significant downsides, for example "Preserve Whole Object" increases coupling and "Replace Temp with Query" decreases performance.

***** Beware, paradigm shift ahead	August 5, 1999
Reviewer: Eileen Sauer at [email protected] (see more about me) from Tampa, FL
When I first started reading this book, I Laughed. Having garnered a reputation as a "Mad Slasher" of badly written code (say, 700 line programs down to 150 lines or less), it was wonderful to see the principles I'd learned over the years codified into a readable catalog of techniques that should be in everyone's arsenal. Required reading for those new to OO development, and a new vocabulary (similar to what "Design Patterns" did) for everyone to share their insights. BRAVO

** Good Information But Extremely Poor Delivery	March 15, 2000
Reviewer: gso-software-engineer (see more about me) from Greensboro, NC
This book contains some good information on how to improve yourexisting code without rewriting it entirely which is a nice departure from the norm of most of these UML-type books which advocate totally changing the way you design and build software. Not that the Unified method of designing and building is bad, its just that its hard to change the way this is done in an organization when you're not in charge of the organization. Mr. Fowler has put forth a mechanism for improving the design of existing code while adding functionality to it. And the information, once culled from the surrounding text, is extremely useful. It's not paradigm shift. And it's not a companion to Design Patterns - Fowler mentions the Design Patterns book throughout his text but this book is certainly not written for the same audience. Fowler never once gives an example where he converts bad code into good by utilizing a pattern from the Gang of Four's book. The book is useful for ANY object-oriented language even though he uses Java in his examples the principles map easily to C++ and SmallTalk. Almost all of the techniques are common sense and yet he spends the bulk of this book explaining in simple terms how to perform them. For each "refactoring" he capably provided a two or three sentence overview of the process, and a code fragment or class diagram exemplifying the technique. These summaries and figures are excellent. But his tone becomes condescending as he painfully explains the process of performing the code improvement. For instance, Extract Method, the first technique in the book, is succinctly described with: "[If] You have a code fragment that can be grouped together...[then] Turn the fragment into a method whose name explains the purpose of the method." Pretty simple and probably not quite enough to totally understand what he is talking about. But then he has a wonderful little code fragment that illustrates it perfectly. This requires about half of one page. But he spends four and a half more explaining how to perform this simple cut-and-paste. 270 Pages of this 418 page book are spent describing 72 techniques in this kind of excruciating detail. Eight very useful pages are spent describing the bad "smells" in your code that lead to these "refactactorings". Another 110 pages is spent telling you how to justify the work to your boss, encouraging you to do it whether or not your boss approves, advocating a "test-small-change-test" paired programming technique characteristic of Extreme Programming. The final 30 pages are written by the other contributors. Altogether, I think this book should be "refactored" into a 100 to 150 page soft-cover manual reminiscent of Scott Meyers' Effective C++ books. If you're looking for Design Patterns: Part 2 this isn't it! END
**** Very valuable contribution towards Programming folklore.	July 22, 1999
Reviewer: Jaideep Baphna (see more about me) from Cambridge, MA
First one small complaint about this book: It introduces the notion of "bad smells in code" which are nothing but "Anti-patterns". Why introduce another new term? The notion of "Antipatterns" was introduced by another book with that title. That book too handled some of the issues of "Refactoring" although at different level and hence should have atleast been mentioned in the bibilography. Interesting thing is that the "Catalog of Refactoring" in this book is in inverse format of the "Catalog of Anti-Patterns". That is not a bad thing though. Many thanks to all these authors (like the GoF and Fowler-Beck-gang) who giving the OO programming world a higher level vocabulary, by giving names and cataloging simple types of changes that you make to your code to rejuvenate it. That is a very important contribution towards documenting valuable programming folklore. The book is pretty focused. The authors talk of little Refactoring. And don't digress into suggesting ways to handle Architectural or Infrastructural Refactorings (like say moving from Monoliths to N-Tiers). That makes it a fun yet valuable read.

**** Dynamics of Software Development ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Jim McCarthy, Denis Gilbert / Paperback / Published 1995
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This rare book like Brooks book is based on experience with a real product -- Microsoft Visual C++ and as such definitely deserves attention.

???? Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams, 2nd Ed. ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister / Paperback / Published 1999
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***+The Practice of Programming ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike / Paperback / Published 1999
Our Price: $24.95

Good, but not much new for those who have read earlier good books on SE. From ERCB review:

Luckily, there's more good news as well -- Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike have a new book out. Their initial joint effort, 1984's The Unix Programming Environment, was the first comprehensive introduction to the standard UNIX toolset, and in many ways remains the best. It, and three other books with Kernighan's name on the spine -- The C Programming Language, Software Tools, and The Elements of Programming Style -- had a lot to do with UNIX becoming the world's most popular operating system. (Yes, I know Windows is more widely used: I said "popular" on purpose.) The Practice of Programming recapitulates and updates the best parts of those four books. Coding style, interface design, testing and debugging techniques, and ways of improving program performance are discussed lucidly and authoritatively. As a bonus, some of the examples are implemented in two or more of C, C++, Java, Awk, and Perl, so that Kernighan and Pike can compare and contrast those languages's strengths and weaknesses. Upon reflection, however, two things about this book left me feeling slightly depressed. The first is how little software development practices have changed in 20 years. Most programs are still written without ever having really been designed, and tested haphazardly if at all. In a lot of ways, we have changed less since the 1970s than the big car manufacturers or grocery chains. The second thing that depressed me is that I'll probably be able to say the first thing again 20 years from now, when the Doobie Brothers are back on the radio for the third time...

**** The Tao of Programming

Geoffrey James / Paperback / Published 1986 Our Price: $7.96 ~ You Save: $1.99 (20%) (Special Order)

**** Rapid Development : Taming Wild Software Schedules ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Steve McConnell / Paperback / Published 1996 Our Price: $28.00 ~ You Save: $7.00 (20%)

Software Development Checklists -- These checklists are excerpted from Code Complete (Microsoft Press, 1993) and Rapid Development (Microsoft Press, 1996) by Steve McConnell. Portions are Copyright � 1993-1996 Steven C. McConnell.

The Deadline : A Novel About Project Management ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Tom Demarco / Paperback / Published 1997
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The Zen of Programming

Geoffrey James / Paperback / Published 1988 Our Price: $9.95 + $0.85 special surcharge (Special Order)

Software Engineering Classics (Programming/General) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Steve Maguire, et al / Paperback / Published 1998 Our Price: $55.99 ~ You Save: $14.00 (20%)

Software Project Survival Guide ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Steve McConnell / Paperback / Published 1997 Our Price: $19.99 ~ You Save: $5.00 (20%)

Cleanroom Software Engineering Practices (Series in Software Engineering Management) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Shirley A. Becker, James A. Whittaker (Editor) / Paperback / Published 1996 Our Price: $39.95

Programming on Purpose: Essays on Software Design Plauger, P. J.$33.00

Software Projects Evolutionary vs. Big-Bang DeliveryRedmill, Felix $49.99

Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs Abelson, Harold; Sussman G.; Sussman, J.

Definitely harmful ;-)

Edward Yourdon

Beware any book of Edward Yourdon. This guy is a great speculator. But entertaining writer. You should not believe any single word ;-)

*+ Time Bomb 2000 : What the Year 2000 Computer Crisis Means to You! (Yourdon Press Computing Series) -- Edward Yourdon, Jennifer Yourdon; Paperback

The message of this book is clear and simple -- I want your money ;-)

Death March : The Complete Software Developer's Guide to Surviving 'Mission Impossible' Projects (Yourdon Computing Series) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Edward Yourdon, Paul D. Becker (Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1997 Our Price: $19.96 ~ You Save: $4.99 (20%)

Rise & Resurrection of the American Programmer (Yourdon Press Computing Series) -- Edward Yourdon; Paperback

Decline & Fall of the American Programmer (Yourdon Press Computing) ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Edward Yourdon / Paperback / Published 1993 Our Price: $23.99 ~ You Save: $6.00 (20%)

Gerard Weinberg

He is not that bad as Yourdon -- he managed to wrote a decent book about PL/1 and later an interesting book about psychology of computer programming :-). But that was it. Attempt to write more books was counter-productive.

**** The Psychology of Computer Programming : Silver Anniversary Edition; Gerald M. Weinberg

• * Are Your Lights On? : How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is

  Donald C. Gause, Gerald M. Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1990 Our Price: $13.95 (Special Order)

  An interesting example on how to write a book when you run out of ideas and just need some cash ;-)

• Becoming a Technical Leader : An Organic Problem-Solving Approach ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

  Gerald Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1986 Our Price: $29.95

  Handbook of Walkthroughs, Inspections, and Technical Reviews : Evaluating Programs, Projects, and Products ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

  Daniel P. Freedman, Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1990 Our Price: $49.95

  Quality Software Management : Anticipating Change (Vol 4) Vol 4 ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1997 Our Price: $44.95

  Quality Software Management : Congruent Action (Congruent Action, Vol 3) Vol 3 ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1994

  Quality Software Management : Systems Thinking Vol 1

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1991 Our Price: $41.95

  Secrets of Consulting : A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1986 Our Price: $29.95

  Exploring Requirements : Quality Before Design

  Donald C. Gause, Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1989 Our Price: $44.95 (Special Order)

  General Principles of Systems Design

  Gerald M. Weinberg, Daniela Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1988 Our Price: $27.95 (Special Order)

  An Introduction to General Systems Thinking

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1975 (Publisher Out Of Stock).

  Quality Software Management : First-Order Measurement Vol 2

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Hardcover / Published 1993 Our Price: $43.95 (Special Order).

  Rethinking Systems Analysis and Design

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1988 Our Price: $27.95 (Special Order)

  Understanding the Professional Programmer

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Paperback / Published 1988 Our Price: $24.95 (Back Ordered)

  Handbook of Walkthroughs

  Gerald M. Weinberg, Daniel P. Freedman / Published 1978

  On the Design of Stable Systems

  Gerald M. Weinberg / Published 1979

Interesting titles

Creating a Software Engineering Culture

Karl E. Wiegers / Hardcover / Published 1996 Our Price: $39.95

Capacity Planning for Web Performance : Metrics, Models, and Methods ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Daniel A. Menasce, Virgilio A. F. Almeida / Paperback / Published 1998 Our Price: $50.00

Application (Re)Engineering : Building Web-Based Applications and Dealing With Legacies ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Amjad Umar / Hardcover / Published 1997 Our Price: $47.00

Programming As If People Mattered: Friendly Programs, Software Engineering Borenstein, Nathaniel S.$16.95

Usability Inspection MethodsNielsen, Jakob; Mack, Robert L.

Managing Risk: Methods for SoftwareSystems DevelopmentHall, Elaine M.

Software VisualizationProgramming As a Multimedia ExperienceStasko, John

Software Runaways: Lessons Learned fromMassive Software Project FailuresGlass, Robert L.

Debugging the Development ProcessMaguire, Steve$24.95

In Search of Clusters, 2nd ed.Pfister, Gregory F.$44.95

Survival in the Software JungleNorris, Mark$49.00

Surviving the Top 10 Challenges ofSoftware Testing: A People-Oriented ApprPerry, William E.; Rice, Randall W.$27.95

Etc.

Tom De Marko

Controlling Software Projects : Management, Measurement and Estimation ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Tom Demarco / Paperback / Published 1986 Our Price: $66.00

The Deadline : A Novel About Project Management ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Tom Demarco / Paperback / Published 1997 Our Price: $24.95

Peopleware : Productive Projects and Teams ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister / Paperback / Published 1987 Our Price: $27.95

Structured Analysis and System Specification ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Tom Demarco / Hardcover / Published 1985 Our Price: $55.60

Watts S Humphrey

A Discipline for Software Engineering (Sei Series in Software Engineering) ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Watts S. Humphrey / Hardcover / Published 1995 Our Price: $55.95

Introduction to the Personal Software Process (Sei Series in Software Engineering) ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Watts S. Humphrey / Paperback / Published 1996 Our Price: $24.95

Managing Technical People : Innovation, Teamwork, and the Software Process (Sei Series in Software Engineering) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Watts S. Humphrey / Paperback / Published 1996 Our Price: $25.95

Managing the Software Process ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Watts S. Humphrey / Hardcover / Published 1989 Our Price: $58.95

Managing for Innovation : Leading Technical People

Watts S Humphrey / Published 1986

Software Engineering : A Practitioner's Approach -- Roger S. Pressman;

Hardcover Software Engineering Classics (Programming/General) -- Steve Maguire, et al; Paperback

Software Engineering : Theory and Practice -- Shari Lawrence Pfleeger; Hardcover

Business Specifications : The Key to Successful Software Engineering ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Haim Kilov / Paperback / Published 1998 Our Price: $44.00

Applying Use Cases : A Practical Guide (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Geri Schneider, et al / Paperback / Published 1998 Our Price: $29.95

Art of Human-Computer Interface Design ~ Usually ships in 24 hours

Brenda Laurel(Editor) / Paperback / Published 1990 Our Price: $31.96 ~ You Save: $7.99 (20%)

Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering : Understanding the Promise of the Future ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Derek Partridge / Hardcover / Published 1998 Our Price: $38.50 ~ You Save: $16.50 (30%)

Assessment and Control of Software Risks (Yourdon Press Computing) ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Capers Jones, T. Capers Jones / Hardcover / Published 1994

An Assessment of Space Shuttle Flight Software Development Processes ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days

Nancy Leveson / Paperback / Published 1993 Our Price: $35.00

Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotes :  Somerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose Bierce :  Bernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater�s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D

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Last modified: March 12, 2019