Tag Archives: software

Review: Structured Programming (Dahl, Dijkstra, and Hoare)

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Bill Wake

Structured Programming, by O.-J. Dahl, E.W. Dijkstra, and C.A.R. Hoare. Academic Press, 1972.  This year (2012) is the 40th anniversary of this text, but it holds up well. It consists of three essays: "Notes on Structured Programming" by E.W. Dijkstra … Continue reading →

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Review – Structured Systems Analysis: Tools and Techniques

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Bill Wake

Structured Systems Analysis: Tools and Techniques. Chris Gane and Trish Sarson. Prentice Hall, 1979. This is one of the classic books on systems analysis: data flow diagrams, data dictionary, and so on appear. It does a decent job explaining these … Continue reading →

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Review – Structured Design

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Bill Wake

Structured Design. Edward Yourdon and Larry L. Constantine. Prentice-Hall, 1979. This was one of the early structured "standard works" that I've only just gotten to for the first time. I'd learned things like coupling and cohesion, afferent and efferent flows, … Continue reading →

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Review – Exploring Requirements

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Bill Wake

Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design, Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg. 1989, Dorset House.This book is an exploration not just of gathering requirements, including the challenges of ambiguity. The authors describe how to clarify expectations by using functions, attributes, constraints, … Continue reading →

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Review – Clean Code

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Bill Wake

Clean Code, Bob Martin, Prentice-Hall, 2008. Bob Martin tackles the challenges of making code sparkling clean. He provides numerous guidelines, and demonstrates their utility in action. I particularly appreciated some of the longer examples where he really works them over. … Continue reading →

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Review – Current Trends in Programming Methodology, Vol. 4: Data Structuring

Posted on December 14, 2007 by Bill Wake

Current Trends in Programming Methodology, Volume 4: Data Structuring, Raymond T. Yeh, editor. Prentice-Hall, 1978. In parallel with "structured programming," (which often focused on code structure), there was more esoteric work done on "structured data." A lot of this found … Continue reading →

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Review – Design Patterns in Java

Posted on May 13, 2006 by Bill Wake

Design Patterns in Java. Steve Metsker and William C. Wake. Addison-Wesley, 2006. I won’t review my own book, but I will summarize: This is a workbook-style book, updating Steve’s earlier Design Patterns Java Workbook and Design Patterns in C#. It covers the same 23 … Continue reading →

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Review – User Stories Applied

Posted on June 20, 2004 by Bill Wake

User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn. Addison-Wesley, 2004.This book is all about user stories, focused on the XP-style customer or the Scrum-style product owner (although programmers and others should know this material as well). Mike describes what stories are, how to … Continue reading →

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Review – The Art of Software Testing

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

The Art of Software Testing, Glenford Myers. Wiley, 1979. Dated? Yes, but I still like it. (Reviewed Nov., '02)

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Review – The Art of Computer Programming

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

The Art of Computer Programming, Donald E. Knuth. Addison-Wesley, 1998 (boxed set edition). I wish I were enough of a mathematician to understand it all, but time studying these books has always been worthwhile. I'm hoping for volumes 4 and … Continue reading →

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Review – Gödel, Escher, Bach

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter. Basic Books, 1999 (20th anniversary edition). An exploration of music, math, and art, and how they intertwine with computers.  (Reviewed Nov., '02)

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Review – Peopleware

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, Tom deMarco and Timothy Lister. Dorset House, 1999 (2/e).Ways to make teams productive.  (Reviewed Nov., ’02)

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Review – Structured Programming

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

Structured Programming O.-J. Dahl, E. W. Dijkstra, and C.A.R. Hoare. Academic Press, 1972. Dijkstra explains structured programming (with an eye to proofs), Hoare explains data structures, and Dahl and Hoare explain something called "objects." Note the publication year. (Reviewed Nov., '02)

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Review – The Mythical Man-Month

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

The Mythical Man-Month, Fred Brooks. Addison-Wesley, 1995 (2/e).“Adding people to a late project makes it later.” This and other observations about software and software teams. If you’ve never read it, you owe it to yourself to find out what our field … Continue reading →

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Review – Programming Pearls; More Programming Pearls

Posted on November 14, 2002 by Bill Wake

Programming Pearls, Jon Bentley. Addison-Wesley, 1999 (2/e). More Programming Pearls, Jon Bentley. Addison-Wesley, 1988. These truly are pearls: great lessons in programming in the small.  (Reviewed Nov., '02)

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