Code Complete : A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

by Steve McConnell

Book Overview

Drawing its examples from a variety of computer languages, this book focuses on programming technique rather than the requirements of a specific programming language or environment. Steve McConnell developed True Type and Windows for the Microsoft Corporation.

Customer Reviews

amazing book, every developer must read it

amazing book, every developer must read it

CC2 is a 'Must Have'

Code Complete, first edition, has long been regarded as ?The Bible? for software development. Dare I say, CC2 is even better than the original. It has been thoroughly updated to include OO, internet and web development, as well as new best practices such as test-first development, pair programming, and refactoring. Steve McConnell provides a balanced, thoughtful discussion of competing approaches to software development. He also provides a wealth of references to additional materials covering specific topics in more detail. In a field that is often defined by religious arguments, CC2 stays objective on most topics. At the same time, McConnell does not shy away from stating his conclusions on topics that he believes have a clear-cut ?best choice?. Overall, this book is as much of a ?must have? as the first edition and destined to become just as famous.

A Great S/W Dev't Guide Got Even Better

It was a pleasure to find out that this book had been updated when I reads news of it. CC2 is a great one-stop 'place' to go to when you want a great excuse to apply Stephen Covey's 'Sharpen The Saw' principle. This updated version has some solid, fantastic, expert instruction on designing from scratch, whether it's OO, writing better routines, psuedocode, nested loops, or at the higher level: agile methods, etc.. McConnell's approach of talking to you, the programmer, is ideal: not too much humor, and an easy to read, but professional approach in the way he donates the contents of his brain: i.e. McConnell's lengthy experience in the field. I read just a couple of paragraphs in a chapter before work one morning, and the advice I picked up saved so much time that same day. And it wasn't even specific to coding instruction. It was a piece of advice on a philosophy on how he personally determines how much upfront design he should settle on before coding. Reading Software Construction material of this caliber, as compared to some, yet another, new book on a specific language that might look impressive to know, is what makes for a solid programmer. Refreshing your overall S/W construction knowledge gives you so much more of your life back, because you will have way less bugs and a lot more fun maintaining the high-quality code you are now writing because of CC2. I mentioned already that he covers OO, but I wanted to emphasize the excellent material he offers in this area. I am now seeing the benefit of measuring the quality of your classes by this guideline: are they true Abstract Data Types. ( rather than just trying to use the syntax that the language provides to its potential). Great job on a rather thorough re-write of a S/W development staple.

Should be mandatory reading

I've been working in the software industry for 12 years now. I believe that a lot of bad practices have been creeping into programming. A lot of code is poorly written, full of "quick and dirty" fixes, poorly structured, and hard to comprehend. The IT industry is not as rigorous as it once was.This is what Code Complete addresses. It is not a programming primer, it is an discussion of methods that can be used to make code more legible, more maintainable, and less buggy.If you don't or can't buy the book then absorb this idea from the book: Programming is not the art of communicating with the computer, it is the art of communicating with other programmers who will read your code.

Required Reading

I won't go into a review of the book as it has already been done so well by others here. Let me just say this:As you read through the reviews, note those that give this book less than 5 stars (save one poor misguided fellow who must think 1 star is better than 5). These are people that I end up sending 'sorry you didn't get the job' letters to whenever I hire new programming staff. The material in this book is so fundamental, so common sense, that it's easy to take it for granted. Don't. Buy a copy, and if you manage software projects and programmers buy copies for everyone involved (most of my people have copies of their own at home, I want them to have it available at work too). Then give them time to read it (or reread it). This will be the best investment in your staff you will ever make.During interviews the mention of this book by a candidate when I ask about their personal professional reading counts as highly as any single other factor (and slightly ahead of most 'professional certifications' since I've found these to be a better indicator of ones ability to take tests than to perform in a production environment). And don't forget to take your's down now and then as well.

The best book I've ever read

About previous comments: Verbose? Don't think so, every page has some piece of valuable informationFor beginners only? Don't think so, but if you are a beginner this is a good place to start. After several years of programming you'll mostly stop thinking about style and follow your habits... so you better have some good habits!Insistence on using hungarian naming convention? Not at all, did you read this book? The author did talk about this convention but he also gives examples why this is can be bad (and also why it can be good).This book covers a wide range of material, from variable declaration to software estimation and probably everything concerning software construction.Also as this book talks a lot about style, the best thing is it is backed up with hard facts not just because of personal preference.The examples are written in several languages (such as C, Pascal and Basic). One chapter is devoted to object orientation. Although you're heavily into OOP then in no way should you skip over this book as the advices in this book can be applied to every methodology of programming. So this book is in no way out dated.Each chapter has a 'recommended reading' section so you know where to go for more. This is extremely handy.I've read this book several times and I just love it. I own every book written by the author. Check them out also - they are very good too.Summary: This book teaches you how you can write good and self-describing code. I wished every program I've had to read had been written by programmers who read this book and applied that knowledge.Thanks, ABO