Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Books I recommend to my software engineering students

web.eecs.utk.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 119 posts

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#11

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

I agree with the idea of a canon for software engineering, probably more as a living, shifting document than as something set in stone (except, maybe, MMM, which seems perennial.)

I'm going to try an experiment, posting five books I'd put on the list, one per comment. Downvote, upvote, add your own if you like the idea.

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#13

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

'The Mythical Man Month', Fred Brooks

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#14

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

'Becoming A Technical Leader', Gerald Weinberg

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#15

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

'The Pragmatic Programmer', Hunt and Thomas

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#16

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

'Making Things Happen', Scott Berkun

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#17

Post by downerending »

ggm wrote: post #6
downerending wrote: post #2

> [ The Mythical Man-Month ] Key takeaway: You'll soon fall victim to the problems identified by this book, even after reading it. Yeah, that pretty much describes all of software development in one stroke. But you should read it anyway (if only to experience the feeling of someone predicting your future before (most of) you were born).

I've always like the MMM but there is also an undercurrent of this being a re-telling of xeno's paradox, and its important to remember the rabbit actually does win. So, adding new bodies does incur cost, but the belief that always adding new bodies always adds more cost than adds impetus to the outcome is not always true. The classic example is "the hump" which was the cost in fuel terms to ship fuel to China, to be…

The difference is that in software, if you add a body and as in most organizations, that body has to appear useful, they will tramp about in the soup, making a big mess and harming progress.

Unlike in war, the marginal curve of adding an extra body goes negative in software. And right quick unless circumstances are favorable.

(If you doubt this, imagine a thousand Arthurs charged with implementing a CRUD app.)

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#18

Post by pjmorris »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

'Code Complete', Steve McConnell

Re: Books I recommend to my software engineering students

#19

Post by voicedYoda »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #4

I've advocated for a "canon" of books for software engineering and computer science that could be taught in school. The canon would accomplish several goals: it'd inform students about the less technical but profoundly important ideas within CS (Brooks' No Silver Bullet, The 10x cost incurred when moving from stage to stage in waterfall, how to treat and manage failure, etc.), it'd teach students how to think about p…

Design Patterns by Gamma, Helm, Johnson, and Vlissides (aka GoF)
Post reply on HN