Product Description

The practice of building software is a “new kid on the block” technology. Though it may not seem this way for those who have been in the field for most of their careers, in the overall scheme of professions, software builders are relative “newbies.”

In the short history of the software field, a lot of facts have been identified, and a lot of fallacies promulgated. Those facts and fallacies are what this book is about.

There’s a problem with those facts–and, as you might imagine, those fallacies. Many of these fundamentally important facts are learned by a software engineer, but over the short lifespan of the software field, all too many of them have been forgotten. While reading Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, you may experience moments of “Oh, yes, I had forgotten that,” alongside some “Is that really true?” thoughts.

The author of this book doesn’t shy away from controversy. In fact, each of the facts and fallacies is accompanied by a discussion of whatever controversy envelops it. You may find yourself agreeing with a lot of the facts and fallacies, yet emotionally disturbed by a few of them! Whether you agree or disagree, you will learn why the author has been called “the premier curmudgeon of software practice.”

These facts and fallacies are fundamental to the software building field–forget or neglect them at your peril!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233747 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Back Cover

The practice of building software is a “new kid on the block” technology. Though it may not seem this way for those who have been in the field for most of their careers, in the overall scheme of professions, software builders are relative “newbies.”

In the short history of the software field, a lot of facts have been identified, and a lot of fallacies promulgated. Those facts and fallacies are what this book is about.

There’s a problem with those facts–and, as you might imagine, those fallacies. Many of these fundamentally important facts are learned by a software engineer, but over the short lifespan of the software field, all too many of them have been forgotten. While reading Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, you may experience moments of “Oh, yes, I had forgotten that,” alongside some “Is that really true?” thoughts.

The author of this book doesn’t shy away from controversy. In fact, each of the facts and fallacies is accompanied by a discussion of whatever controversy envelops it. You may find yourself agreeing with a lot of the facts and fallacies, yet emotionally disturbed by a few of them! Whether you agree or disagree, you will learn why the author has been called “the premier curmudgeon of software practice.”

These facts and fallacies are fundamental to the software building field–forget or neglect them at your peril!

About the Author

Robert Glass is the founder of Computing Trends. He has written more than a dozen books on software engineering and on the lessons of computing failures. Robert is trusted by many as a leading authority on software engineering, especially by those who read his columns in Communications of the ACM and IEEE Software. Robert also publishes a newsletter, The Software Practitioner, and speaks frequently at software engineering events.

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended!!!
This is a great book! Obviously written be somebody who loves software development but who is amazed at how certain things don't change no matter how fast the tools and technology change around us.

Each of the facts and fallacies in this book is discussed in some detail, and there are lots of notes and references if you want to follow up. The wrtiting is always clear and very readable. If there's an underlying theme it's "don't believe the hype!". It should be the mantra of everybody involved in software development.

This is one of the most enjoyable and interesting books on development that I've ever read. Buy it and take what it says to heart.

Excellent diversion from work
This book is an excellent diversion from reading text books or doing normal work, but it's conclusions are still highly valid for any project. I found it a humourous read, and for virtually every point made I found my self nodding in agreement.

I highly recommend lending the book to your boss prior to a personal appraisal, as the first two points are about how worthy good developers are!

Any software developer should get this book for a bit of light reading, and bring back those memories of past project disasters!

Well-written and needed
The reason why I am nothing throwing in all 5 stars is that the books style irritates me a little. I would rather have all the references and sources in an appendix in the end of the book, rather than after each fact & fallacy.

But that said, the f&f that is shown here are good to be reminded of for almost any programmer. I wonder a bit why a fact stating that COBOL is the best business computer language is needed - true that it may be it is irrelevant and carries not the same weight as other statements in the book (I could add another fact about SNOBOL being the best string-manipulating language etc., but whats the relevance...?).

The book is part of the eXtreme / pragmatic / agile programming paradigme that we see these years. And true is it that Robert L. Glass doesn't bring that much new stuff - he is referring to his own old books a lot of the time - but from personal experience I have already seen that managers are impressed by the facts stated here.

So after all: The book should be used to throw in a couple of facts in an argument with a manager. That, or Dilbert...