Software Development Books

I have been doing SQA and related engineering for almost twenty years and have not seen many books that actually get into the "nuts and bolts" of software testing as well as this one does. Mosley takes great pains to insure that whether you are a newcomer to SQA or a seasoned pro, something is here for you. I recently moved from a strictly software testing environment to a Client-Server environment and used this book extensively to "get up to speed" with the new internet testing concepts presented in this publication. Very practical examples, clear explanations and a thorough knowledge of the topic. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is new to the field and any one needs ideas on how to put a test environment together that really produces immediate results. I have worked on many software engineering projects over the past twenty years and wished many times for a book like this, now its here.

Of all the sofware testing books I've read, Mosley's stands out as the easiest to read, and contains real-world tangible examples that can be put to use immediatley. His Test Plan outlines are excellent and are built from IEEE standards. Lots of useful information and minimum test philosophy. Like many client-server books, the focus is primarily e-commerce, but the test approaches can be applied to any multi-user GUI application.

Really enjoyed the discussion on traps and pitfalls, and the differences that the VB.NET language has with C#. Coming from a C# background and having to deal with VB.NET in a later project, had to confront many subtle differences. This book goes very well with ".NET Gotchas"

This book is a must read for anyone doing VB.NET development work. I felt so lucky when I found this book because I haven't found a book like this on the market for .NET debugging. This isn't just a book you read through once, and set aside, as it will definitely become a permanent part of your reference library. The author did an absolutely exceptional job in comprehensively covering debugging techniques and issues from everything from ASP.NET, SQL Server, Windows Forms, Web Services, to Classic VB, and the depth of knowledge this author shares about such things as debugging tools, approaches to take towards a project, and how to really fully use Visual Studio .NET's debugger are never taught in college courses. There is even a full chapter on debugging multithreaded applications, which the author even mentions that most Visual Basic programmers are unfamiliar with. I got this book initially to study Visual Studio .NET's debugger capabilities, and learn about debugging techniques, but I was amazed at the volumes of information. This book is so versatile that you can match the debugging techniques to the type of project your might be faced with, and that's why I say again "It's going to be a great reference book to keep handy by your desk." The detailed information on such things as utilizing Visual Studio. NET's debugger is much better, and easier to understand than information I have seen on Microsoft's Website. So many different debugging scenarios are covered, but just as example, in Visual Studio .NET the author explains how to attach the debugger to a process, or how to debug programs without loading them into the IDE, such as a production component that is currently running, or a Web service running on another machine, and gives a very thorough breakdown on the general debugging options in Visual Studio .NET. This book even offers great insight into why bugs even happen in an application in the first place. What I also enjoyed about this book is that I could jump ahead to any chapter I wanted to read. The writing style is smooth, and easy to follow. The examples given are endless.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about doing .NET development work!

This book is an authoritative compendium of instructional design practices applied to computer-based instruction, including web-based training (WBT). Drawing heavily from M.D. Merrill's Component Display Theory and ID2 project, the book has strong chapters on instructional strategies for each of the major types of learning. It also has good treatments of basic design practices for tutorial and simulation CBT design.

This book focuses on the different instructional strategies that should be used when teaching procedures, processes, concepts, principles, and memory instruction. The core idea being that the best way to teach people about concepts is different than teaching people about a procedure. And that teaching people to memorize a list is very different from teaching principle-using behavior, and that the methods used to teach each type of learning are different.

To help you understand what the book is like, here is some quotes about using instructional strategy to teach a process:

A process is a pattern of events. Procedural processes describe the influences and effects of a procedure as it is performed, from a third-person point of view. When procedure and process instruction are combined, a student learns to perform the procedure while at the same time learning how the procedure affects the environment in which the procedure is performed.(P.222)

...Process knowledge is comprised of several possible event paths which events might follow depending on how conditions vary. The most superficial degree of process knowledge consists of memorizing the steps in a process.(P.225)

Most explanations in science textbooks are delivered in the form of long paragraphs in which several process threads are intertwined, and only a few event paths out of the large number possible are presented, and a limited amount of information is given to help a student determine the other paths that might occur.

Missing information may include missing events, incomplete description of the mechanisms for transition between event-states, confusing presentation of the mechanism, lacking specification of the conditions under which state-transitions take place, or lack of linkage between condition causes and event effects. (P.226)

For process-using behavior to occur, a student must not only predict an outcome, but must also be able to supply a rationale for it. The student must be able to explain through a chain of reasoning why and how the outcome occurred.
We have been careful to describe a process as a pattern of events and not as a sequence of events; now it is possible to see why. As natural elements are acted upon by all kinds of forces, energies, and signals, there are many forces acting at once, and so there are many possible outcomes depending on the forces acting, their magnitude, and their balance. Any set of circumstances can thus result in a large number of outcomes, depending on the final resolution of the forces. That means that a process as we experience it is not a fixed, rigid, unchanging sequence of events, but a possiblity with numerous outcomes - numerous possible event sequences. Process-using means being able to predict from a given set of elements and acting forces one or more possible outcomes. Process-using behavior deals in the cause-effect linkages between events and explains them in terms of force, energy, or signal transfer between related elements. (p.226)


The nature of process instruction requires much stage setting. The difference in the requirements for environment description for novices and experts is the key to an important principle for all of process instruction. Process instruction, more than any other type of instruction, is prone to great compression. For process instruction, the instructional message can sometimes be compressed into a few words if the audience for the instruction is experienced and already has a great deal of knowledge in the content. For novices, the explanations must be detailed and explicit - sometimes painfully so. (P.235)

This is the best book that i have reader. I'm building an Intranet with the help of this book.Each chapter is very good.

I was assigned to setup an intranet for our retail outlet stores and "Corporate Intranet Development" got me off and running in no time. It was easy to read and had all the latest information I needed. The book would be perfect for large corporations, but also fit my needs for the retail market perfectly

Basically this is one of many books on software project management. However, it does have a few features that make it a standout in this category. One of the things that differentiate this book is the included software tools like Open Work Bench and version control software. While many project management books cover just management of the project from an internal perspective, this one includes management of the external factors with the client. For example they discuss the importance of setting up a liaison center as a primary contact point for the client and dealing with client dissatisfaction. It is obvious that the author has had some experience with project management from gathering client expectations through delivering the final product.

Some of the areas discussed include setting standards and guidelines, project specifications, development and testing, and requirements definition. He details some of the things that need to be captured up front for a successful project such as system context, operating environment, end-user services, supporting services, documentation, and maintenance.

I've seen a lot of software projects go awry for various reasons and this book details the steps to be taken to prevent those problems right from the start. Because it takes a complete view and deals not only with the coding and the internal perspective of project management but also with client relations and setting up a framework within which to work with the client, Corporate Software Project Management is highly recommended and superior to most other project management books.

I'm reminded of the old saying regarding software (or probably any other technical project), "You can have it on time, within budget, or working -- Pick any two.

Actually, of course, techniques have been developed which assist in all three of these areas. The first key is to spend more time in the definition or requirements phase. This means establishing communications channels, standards and guidelines, and a detailed set of specifications that are agreed upon by all. Finally there is testing. Often left until it is the last item on the schedule, testing needs to be moved closer to the front. Catching bugs earlier means that they aren't there in the finished project.

The second key is to establish the project management structure. This includes breaking the project down into a set of requirements that meets the agreed upon specifications. This can then be used to establish a critical path for the development. Corporate software engineering principles can be used to produce code that is easy to maintain, read, and extend to additional requirements. There are a number of management tools that have been developed to assist in this phase. Several of the more common tools are included on the CD furnished with the book, some of them trial versions with time limitations that can be examined to see if they fit your needs.

When Watergate broke, Woodward and Bernstein were told to follow the money. For every programmer, it is "follow the data!" The essence of program design is to write software with ease. This book shows an effective method of writing software.

The Jackson methodology was originally written for COBOL. What does COBOL have to do with our modern programming environment? Streams! COBOL was originally written for an environment where a stack of punched cards was transformed into another stack of punched cards, or a printout. Well, what is a stack of cards? It's a stream of data! What do we have today? Steams upon streams upon streams of data!

This book teaches the reader how to think in terms of streams. Once the data is understood and diagrammed, the program follows with ease. Data comes in sequence, selection, and iteration. Executable operations (not necessarily individual lines of code) are allocated along the data's stream path diagram. The program is then coded according to the resulting diagram.

In my own experience, I have solved problems that others literally said were impossible using JSP. I have lost this book once, and I hope I never do that again. So just follow the data and write good code, OK?

Chapters:
1: What is program design?
2: The basic methodology (and how to do it)
3: Some simple programs
4: Good and bad data
5: Handling unpredictable data errors and situations
6: Merging multiple sets of input data (the collating technique)
7: More complex programming problems
8: Jackson and other techniques
9: Jackson and technology
10: Testing
11: Jackson and system design
12: Coding considerations
13: Implementation of the Jackson methodology
14: The future of the Jackson methodology

From inside the front cover (nice and concise diagram):
Requirement Specification -> Structure Problem Logic -> Structure Program Logic -> Allocate Program Operations -> Code and Compile -> Program
"Methodology: complete, precise sequence of design procedures enforces exact correspondence between program and problem. Procedures resolve simplest or most complex design problems and insure accurate and consistent results."

King's step-by-step description of the Jackson Program design method is the clearest such description I've encountered. This book should be required reading for all actual and would-be computer programmers. The technique covered can be used in all programming environments and builds a strong basis for solving all types of programming problems. King's writing style renders a difficult subject fascinating and amusing. This book should be on all software engineers' and programmers' bookshelves.

This book explains how simple it truly is to pull data from an industrial PLC on the factory floor. In additon to teaching you how to display your data using graphs, the book shows you how easy it is to make a recipe management application.

The book proves there's an economical alternive to the big buck solutions. It's a good place for any novice to start.

I'd easly recommend this book!

This is an outstanding book, that lets you make an industrial application (HMI), with the use of Microsoft Access. This is for the person that does not have much money, but wants to be an Industrial Programmer for HMI development.

I highly recommend this book!

Anyone who has read Brackett previous books knows that his contribution to the data quality arena is fundamental.

This books is important because it states the business case for quality data in clear terms and also provides tools and guidelines to succeed in that long (very long ) journey

Once again Michael Brackett does a great job. I've often thought that Michael is a perfectionist. However, I see more clearly now that he is a wounded soldier that has experienced the battles of data administration.

You will find this book exciting - I mean is you love the topic. Michael dictates the "right" way to set up data administration and the ramifications of not doing so.

The book is full of suggestions and pointed comments. I believe that Michael knows the subject as well as anyone, and has a vengence to correct the chaos that is currently prevalent in this area.

Buy it! Read it! Then re-read it! Wait about 6 months and read it again until it sinks in. He's right on target with this one.

I am just buying this book today. So why am I writing a review? Because everything said about Chris Date by Data Guy is absolutely right on. I too have all of his previous books, including his gold standard text book on database systems and his previous "Writings" books. Reading CJ Date is why I learned to love database. He's brilliant, and his logic really is a beautiful thing to read. There is no t uncrossed, no i undotted. One of my favorite writings and one I recommend to everyone is called "A Table Without Columns". We all get that you can have a table without rows. But when you understand that we can have a table without columns, and why, you begin to understand the brilliance of the relational model.

I agree with Data Guy - buy all of his Writings books especially. They are self-contained and every one you read will give you a better and deeper understanding of the relational model. And yes, it does matter in real life. Just think about the myriad failed or limping applications that exist because people so readily dismiss these important principles.

Chris Date's new book is essentially the best of Chris Date's recent musings on database management and the relational model. The book anthologizes Date's prodigious output over the past seven years.

Anyone who is working with database systems ought to be familiar with the work of Chris Date. He is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant specializing in relational database technology. His outstanding book, An Introduction to Database Systems, is a standard in the field and is used by many universities to teach database management. His impact on the field has been profound.

Anyway, this book is a treasure. The book gallantly gallops from subject to subject covering many pertinent issues related to databases and DBMS implementation. The book tackles subjects both familiar and not-so-familiar in an authoritative and easy to read manner. If you think you completely understand SQL you owe it to yourself to read the chapters on SQL and relational misconceptions.

Yes, some of this material can be found for free on the web. But not all of it. And, even if all of it was freely available I would still want to own the book to have it readily available, all in one place.

This book is basically the latest in a series of books that Date has written like this for Addison-Wesley under the title Relational Database Writings. Date has moved to a new publisher (and a new title), but the content is as vital as ever. I own all of his previous titles and I heartily recommend this new one, too. If you work with databases, Date on Database will surely enlighten, entertain and educate you. You owe it to yourself and your career to read this book, as well as Chris Date's many other books.

The book is written for the developer by experienced people who did not use worthless examples. The examples are what is required in real world programming. The book is excellent to learn from and also to use as a reference even though Delphi 2 was the latest release at the time of publication. I have used this as a reference in the majority of cases. I have been using Delphi for over 6 years now for desktop development.

'Delphi in Depth' is the best book I have found on understanding Delphi. I have 14 books on Delphi and this book is a must have, for anyone serious about learning and using Delphi. It is useful for both the novice and expert programmer. The explainations and CD examples are simple and direct, showing you HOW, but also explaining in plain english WHY and WHEN to use properties and methods.