Booklist
As we cover material in CMPS115,
I look around my office to see what books on that subject I am keeping
near at hand - if they're good ones, I put up a recommendation on this
page. I care about book prices, and I buy a lot of books, so I often
buy used books ... I'll include used prices where I can quickly find
them.
Requirements
Gause and Weinberg's Are
Your Lights
On? How to Figure Out What the
Problem REALLY Is is flat-out wonderful. Easy to read,
brief,
entertaining and wise. ISBN 0-932633-16-1 available used less than $9
as of 1/31.
Weinberg writes a lot on the subject of communications, software
quality, consulting ... I've seldom been disappointed in what he had to
say. Check out his website
UML, Modeling
Martin Fowler's UML
Distilled: A
Brief Guide to the Standard Object
Modeling Language, Third Edition is probably very good; I
have
the
Second Edition and am happy with it. Another slender, useful,
easy-to-use book. I'd probably get a used copy of the Second Edition
unless I needed data on the very latest UML features (and personally I
don't). ASIN: 020165783X second edition is available used for
$12 as of 1/31
User Interaction Design
You can find a lot of books on patterns and practices and specific
issues in UI design, but you really should do some reading on
fundamental human-centered issues, getting to the insights on
perception, mental models, information navigation,
... and
nothing I have read is easier or more insightful than Don Norman's Design of Everyday Things
... newly
re-issued in paperback (I don't have the new one yet :( )
ISBN:
0465067107 for only $12 as of 1/31.
Three of the greats in user-centered design formed a company (Nielsen-Norman Group)
and there are
good reports and data available from them; but, for quick reading, just
go to the interesting parts of the principal's web sites:
- Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox columns,
a new one every 14 days - these are about Web
usability but you should poke around his overall website, too. He
understands return-on-investment in UI work
- Don
Norman's essays
- Bruce Tognazzini's AskTog
columns
about design ... Bruce was a driving force behind the Mac's UI
-
Visual Display of Quantitative Information ... fabulous
book on being extremely economical and dense in diagrams
Project Management
Very broad area! My favorites here are:
- Brooks' The
Mythical
Man-Month: Essays on Software
Engineering has to be at the top of the list. This is the classic.
Brooks draws lessons
from the development of one of
the
pioneering IBM OS projects, and the lessons hold true today. ISBN:
0201835959 the second anniversary edition can be had for $16 used - very good
deal.
(The material added for the second Anniversery
edition isn't really a big step forward ... I'd get the first edition,
it'd be more retro-cool. IMO.)
- Cantor's Object-Oriented
Project Management with UML offers sound
wide-ranging advice for OO-style planned-process projects. ISBN:
0471253030 available used for $19 as of 1/31
- Cockburn's Agile
Software
Development yet another slender and
readable book; he teaches about agile techniques using a 'cooperative
game' metaphor, which works fairly well most of the time. Discusses
methodology choices, human communication styles, and people problems.
Very specific advice in the ''what should I do tomorrow'' sections -
read a little every night, it's good for you! :) ISBN:
0201699699
available used for $20 as of 1/31 (see also Cockburn's web site)
Personal/Career Development
- Hohmann's Journey
of the
Software Professional: A
Sociology of Software Development has some superb thinking
and
writing. However, it is a bit dense sometimes, and I don't find the
overarching framework quite compelling. But I keep coming back to this
book and re-reading parts of it ... and have for more than 5 years now.
ISBN: 0132366134 available used for as little as $9 as of 1/31
- DeMarco and Lister's Peopleware:
Productive Projects and
Teams, 2nd Ed is a small, easily readable classic about
how to
get a
software team to 'gel' and work well. I've bought copies to give away
to my managers ... ISBN: 0932633439 seldom available used.
New it
is $34 (twice what I paid for my first copy!)
Architecture/Design
(These are fairly advanced and thoughtful books, not really relevant to
CS115 - but I recommend them as part of getting better as an architect)
- Domain-Driven
Design on domain/model design techniques: great brain-food
for developers, managers, and direct customers
-
The Power of Events describes using "complex events" in
distributed enterprise architectures; it is a really intriguing design
principle (with some drawbacks, of
course!)
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Last updated 2006/06/14