Read "Code Complete"

The best sofware development book

I don’t even remember where I left it.

I first read this in 1997, I think. I still pick it up now and again. One thing that makes it so good is that it cites studies on things like what style of indentation is easiest for code maintainers to read, and whether methods with multiple return statements have more defects than those with a single return. (Yes, companies like IBM used to fund studies like these before marketing started to consume 70% of the budget.) So it’s not just some guy’s opinion. There’s a great chapter on commenting that I had my team read a few years ago. It really helped. Don’t be put off by the size. It’s comprehensive, but easy to read. And you don’t have to go cover-to-cover. This and The Pragmatic Programmer are two of the best general programming books out there. Well-worn copies of both should be on every software developer’s bookshelf. Truly a classic!

Now that I’ve learned a scootering pal of mine indexed Code Complete I am more eager than ever to mark this done in 2007!

I have this at my bedside and every night I read a bit out of it. I keep working at it though!

... and Code Complete is not really one of them.

Great book. Make me feel good. That was the times when Waterfall ruled. I was so lonely on the incremental development side of the world, back then…

Things changed!

Three weeks: hundreds of pages. Better start cracking.

at my local library.

A spectacular book on development, from what was to me at the time a very odd source.