"Code Complete" by Steve McConnell
Robert N. Lambeck
Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
courses where it is used.
-----
Robert N. Lambeck (Bob) Ford Motor Co., U.S.A. rlam...@ford.com
Onorio Catenacci
It should be required reading for every professional programmer. Too bad that such knowledge doesn't usually get to the
practitioner in the field.
--
Onorio
Note: Any opinions expressed are solely my own and do not reflect any position of my employer.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pioneers may get there first but they also get all the arrows in their backs. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Ronald Perrella
Onorio Catenacci wrote:
>
> Robert N. Lambeck wrote:
> >
> > Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
> > in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
> > courses where it is used.
> > -----
> > Robert N. Lambeck (Bob) Ford Motor Co., U.S.A. rlam...@ford.com
>
> It should be required reading for every professional programmer. Too bad that such knowledge doesn't usually get to the
> practitioner in the field.
> --
> Onorio
Absolutely. It is a very good book for programmers.
However, some programmers may think they are above the kind of things
discussed in the book. It's my experience that reading this book
always uncovers a useful fact or nugget of experience worth keeping and sharing.
In fact, I've thought of having it be required reading at my company. I really
don't want anyone romping around in my code who hasn't been exposed to the
ideas in the book.
In other words, I highly recommend it. You may agree with all of it, but you
will find the whole to be useful.
--
Ronald Perrella
perr...@mindspring.com
Homepage: www.mindspring.com/~perrella
Roswell, Georgia, USA.
Kelvin Wong
>Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
>in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
>courses where it is used.
I think that even if it is not a used as a textbook, it should be. I
recommend all software developers to have a copy of it. I have been
recommend this book to my programmers friends also. The universities
and other I.T. institutions should have it as a textbook also
Maybe you should recommend it in your company.
Regards
Kelvin Wong
Tom J
I have skimmed parts of 'Code Complete'. It appears to contain
information that I had to pick up in many different places over a few
years (the IEEE Tutorial on Structured Programming, a corporate coding
standard, learning an Ada coding standard, buying my own copy of the C
standard) so that's convenient for other people. I can also recommend
Hatton's book "Safer C" (except ignore the half-hearted insinuation that
you should set errno before using a function that sets it, which he says
he got from Plauger); there seem to be many books like this out now.
Modularity, learning to inspect your own code, structuredness, fanout,
complexity, testability, self-documentation plus meaningful commenting,
limited module size, limited function size, readable variable names,
compiling with warnings, using static code checkers, learning C
continuously, learning to unit test by planning and comparing results to
the plan; it all helps, but learning it in depth takes many books and
many years. I'll call you when I'm done.
--
Tom Janzen - t...@world.std.com USA Distributed Real-Time Data Acquisition S/W
for Scientists and Engineers using POSIX, C, C++, X, Motif, Graphics, Audio
http://world.std.com/~tej
Michael Confoy
Still having to code c instead of generating objects?
In article <Dy9p6...@world.std.com>, t...@world.std.com says...
John Weiss
On 09/24/96 6:47PM, in message <32488d03.6293010@news>, Kelvin Wong
<kel...@pefu.com.sg> wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 11:05:14 -0700, "Robert N. Lambeck"
> <rlam...@ford.com> wrote:
>
> >Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
> >in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
> >courses where it is used.
>
Seattle U used it last year in a graduate Programming Methodology course last
spring. Came complete with a lecture/discussion by Steve himself!
--
John Weiss
Bare Bones BBS, Seattle, WA
206-368-7672
Eivind Eklund
In article <324822...@ford.com>,
"Robert N. Lambeck" <rlam...@ford.com> writes:
> Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
> in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
> courses where it is used.
I don't think it would be appropriate as a textbook - it seems written
for professional programmers, not students. I don't think I'd have
gotten half as much out of it if I hadn't had industry experience to show
how relevant the examples are.
Anyway: Anybody that hasn't read this book - run buy it. Unless you
haven't read Writing Solid Code (Steve Maguire, Microsoft Press 1994
(1995?)), of course - then run buy both of them, and read Writing Solid
Code first.
There are also available books on software management/processes by both
Steve Maguire and Steve McConnell - "Debugging the Development Process"
by Steve Maguire, Microsoft Press 1995, and "Rapid Development" by Steve
McConnell, Microsoft Press 1996.
Also recommended. (My only complaints with these books are that they
come from Microsoft, and that Steve McConnell has a somewhat long-winded
style - one example both in Code Complete and Debugging the Development
Process take twice as much space in Code Complete, without any more
content.)
--
Eivind Eklund <per...@yes.no>
http://maybe.yes.no/perhaps/
Onorio Catenacci
Tom J wrote:
>
> I have skimmed parts of 'Code Complete'.
<Snip>
You should read the whole book. Well worth the time.
> it all helps, but learning it in depth takes many books and
> many years. I'll call you when I'm done.
>
<Snip>
If it were something that could be picked up overnight, would it be worth while? Personally, I find the constant learning
one of the most appealing aspects of software development.
Jeffrey C. Dege
On Wed, 25 Sep 1996 13:46:58 +0200, Eivind Eklund <eiv...@dimaga.com> wrote:
>In article <324822...@ford.com>,
>
>Also recommended. (My only complaints with these books are that they
>come from Microsoft, and that Steve McConnell has a somewhat long-winded
>style - one example both in Code Complete and Debugging the Development
>Process take twice as much space in Code Complete, without any more
>content.)
My only complaints with the books are that the concepts discussed in the
books have been around for decades, and any competent programmer should
have already been familiar with what is in them. That Microsoft managed
to stumble for so along while learning zip about software engineering
principles doesn't suprise me, that so many others in the industry are
flabergasted at what Microsoft has so belatedly learned astonishes me.
IMO, the appropriate response on reading McConnell's books should be
``God, this would have saved me a lot of grief if I had known this
ten years ago.'' If you were programming ten years ago and _don't_
have this response, I'd suggest taking a hard look at your self-education
program, because nothing in these books should be new to you.
On the other hand, if you weren't programming ten years ago, read the
books. They are clearly written, and are as good a source of information
as any I've seen.
--
.sig under construction
David A Calvert
Robert N. Lambeck (rlam...@ford.com) wrote:
: Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
: in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
: courses where it is used.
: Robert N. Lambeck (Bob) Ford Motor Co., U.S.A. rlam...@ford.com
We use it as the text in two of our third year software engineering
courses at the University of Guelph (pronounced Gwelf).
If you are interested in the courses which use it you can find
out more at http://hebb.cis.uoguelph.ca/~deb/27343/home.html
dave
------------------------
David Calvert
Department of Computing and Information Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
Canada
da...@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca
Jerry Heyman
Robert N. Lambeck (rlam...@ford.com) wrote:
: Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
: in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
: courses where it is used.
I use it in my CIS (Computer Information Sciences) 45 class. This class
is entitled "Computer Systems Development".
For more information, check out my web page (see URL below) and follow the
links.
: -----
: Robert N. Lambeck (Bob) Ford Motor Co., U.S.A. rlam...@ford.com
jerry
--
Jerry Heyman O- Team AMIGA
je...@arlut.utexas.edu by day : Univ Texas - Applied Research Labs
hey...@acad.stedwards.edu by nite : Adjunct Lecturer, St. Edward's Univ.
<A HREF="http://www.cs.stedwards.edu/u/heyman/"> My other self </A>
John Weiss
On 09/25/96 4:46AM, in message <i36b25...@sol.dimaga.com>, Eivind Eklund
<eiv...@dimaga.com> wrote:
> In article <324822...@ford.com>,
> "Robert N. Lambeck" <rlam...@ford.com> writes:
>
> > Is the book "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, 1993,
> > in use anywhere as a textbook? If so, I'd appreciate hearing about the
> > courses where it is used.
>
> I don't think it would be appropriate as a textbook - it seems written
> for professional programmers, not students. I don't think I'd have
> gotten half as much out of it if I hadn't had industry experience to
> show how relevant the examples are.
>
You must not forget there are courses and curricula for other than undergrad
CS students fresh out of high school...
We used Code Complete, supplemented with other material, as a Programming
Methodology text
--
John Weiss
LCDR, USN, Retired
Master of Software Engineering candidate
Seattle University