Writing Effective Use Cases


Alistair Cockburn - 2000
    Cockburn begins by answering the most basic questions facing anyone interested in use cases: What does a use case look like? When do I write one? Next, he introduces each key element of use cases: actors, stakeholders, design scope, goal levels, scenarios, and more. Writing Effective Use Cases contains detailed guidelines, formats, and project standards for creating use cases -- as well as a detailed chapter on style, containing specific do's and don'ts. Cockburn shows how use cases fit together with requirements gathering, business processing reengineering, and other key issues facing software professionals. The book includes practice exercises with solutions, as well as a detailed appendix on how to use these techniques with UML. For all application developers, object technology practitioners, software system designers, architects, and analysts.

Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering


Eldad Eilam - 2005
    The book is broken into two parts, the first deals with security-related reverse engineering and the second explores the more practical aspects of reverse engineering. In addition, the author explains how to reverse engineer a third-party software library to improve interfacing and how to reverse engineer a competitor's software to build a better product. * The first popular book to show how software reverse engineering can help defend against security threats, speed up development, and unlock the secrets of competitive products * Helps developers plug security holes by demonstrating how hackers exploit reverse engineering techniques to crack copy-protection schemes and identify software targets for viruses and other malware * Offers a primer on advanced reverse-engineering, delving into disassembly-code-level reverse engineering-and explaining how to decipher assembly language

Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency


Tom DeMarco - 2001
    That principle is the value of slack, the degree of freedom in a company that allows it to change. Implementing slack could be as simple as adding an assistant to a department and letting high-priced talent spend less time at the photocopier and more time making key decisions, or it could mean designing workloads that allow people room to think, innovate, and reinvent themselves. It means embracing risk, eliminating fear, and knowing when to go slow. Slack allows for change, fosters creativity, promotes quality, and, above all, produces growth. With an approach that works for new- and old-economy companies alike, this revolutionary handbook debunks commonly held assumptions about real-world management, and gives you and your company a brand-new model for achieving and maintaining true effectiveness.

The Soul of a New Machine


Tracy Kidder - 1981
    Tracy Kidder got a preview of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful, prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old "veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new kind of work ethic.These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions, The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the future. —Rob Lightner

What is DevOps?


Mike Loukides - 2012
    Old-style system administrators may be disappearing in the face of automation and cloud computing, but operations have become more significant than ever. As this O'Reilly Radar Report explains, we're moving into a more complex arrangement known as "DevOps."Mike Loukides, O'Reilly's VP of Content Strategy, provides an incisive look into this new world of operations, where IT specialists are becoming part of the development team. In an environment with thousands of servers, these specialists now write the code that maintains the infrastructure. Even applications that run in the cloud have to be resilient and fault tolerant, need to be monitored, and must adjust to huge swings in load. That was underscored by Amazon's EBS outage last year.From the discussions at O'Reilly's Velocity Conference, it's evident that many operations specialists are quickly adapting to the DevOps reality. But as a whole, the industry has just scratched the surface. This report tells you why.

Web Scalability for Startup Engineers


Artur Ejsmont - 2015
    With a focus on core concepts and best practices rather than on individual languages, platforms, or technologies, Web Scalability for Startup Engineers describes how infrastructure and software architecture work together to support a scalable environment.You'll learn, step by step, how scalable systems work and how to solve common challenges. Helpful diagrams are included throughout, and real-world examples illustrate the concepts presented. Even if you have limited time and resources, you can successfully develop and deliver robust, scalable web applications with help from this practical guide.Learn the key principles of good software design required for scalable systemsBuild the front-end layer to sustain the highest levels of concurrency and request ratesDesign and develop web services, including REST-ful APIsEnable a horizontally scalable data layerImplement caching best practicesLeverage asynchronous processing, messaging, and event-driven architectureStructure, index, and store data for optimized searchExplore other aspects of scalability, such as automation, project management, and agile teams

Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman


Dave Hoover - 2009
    To grow professionally, you also need soft skills and effective learning techniques. Honing those skills is what this book is all about. Authors Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye have cataloged dozens of behavior patterns to help you perfect essential aspects of your craft. Compiled from years of research, many interviews, and feedback from O'Reilly's online forum, these patterns address difficult situations that programmers, administrators, and DBAs face every day. And it's not just about financial success. Apprenticeship Patterns also approaches software development as a means to personal fulfillment. Discover how this book can help you make the best of both your life and your career. Solutions to some common obstacles that this book explores in-depth include:Burned out at work? "Nurture Your Passion" by finding a pet project to rediscover the joy of problem solving.Feeling overwhelmed by new information? Re-explore familiar territory by building something you've built before, then use "Retreat into Competence" to move forward again.Stuck in your learning? Seek a team of experienced and talented developers with whom you can "Be the Worst" for a while. "Brilliant stuff! Reading this book was like being in a time machine that pulled me back to those key learning moments in my career as a professional software developer and, instead of having to learn best practices the hard way, I had a guru sitting on my shoulder guiding me every step towards master craftsmanship. I'll certainly be recommending this book to clients. I wish I had this book 14 years ago!" -Russ Miles, CEO, OpenCredo

Programming Perl


Tom Christiansen - 1991
    The first edition of this book, Programming Perl, hit the shelves in 1990, and was quickly adopted as the undisputed bible of the language. Since then, Perl has grown with the times, and so has this book.Programming Perl is not just a book about Perl. It is also a unique introduction to the language and its culture, as one might expect only from its authors. Larry Wall is the inventor of Perl, and provides a unique perspective on the evolution of Perl and its future direction. Tom Christiansen was one of the first champions of the language, and lives and breathes the complexities of Perl internals as few other mortals do. Jon Orwant is the editor of The Perl Journal, which has brought together the Perl community as a common forum for new developments in Perl.Any Perl book can show the syntax of Perl's functions, but only this one is a comprehensive guide to all the nooks and crannies of the language. Any Perl book can explain typeglobs, pseudohashes, and closures, but only this one shows how they really work. Any Perl book can say that my is faster than local, but only this one explains why. Any Perl book can have a title, but only this book is affectionately known by all Perl programmers as "The Camel."This third edition of Programming Perl has been expanded to cover version 5.6 of this maturing language. New topics include threading, the compiler, Unicode, and other new features that have been added since the previous edition.

Learning the bash Shell


Cameron Newham - 1995
    This book will teach you how to use bash's advanced command-line features, such as command history, command-line editing, and command completion.This book also introduces shell programming,a skill no UNIX or Linus user should be without. The book demonstrates what you can do with bash's programming features. You'll learn about flow control, signal handling, and command-line processing and I/O. There is also a chapter on debugging your bash programs.Finally, Learning the bash Shell, Third Edition, shows you how to acquire, install, configure, and customize bash, and gives advice to system administrators managing bash for their user communities.This Third Edition covers all of the features of bash Version 3.0, while still applying to Versions 1.x and 2.x. It includes a debugger for the bash shell, both as an extended example and as a useful piece of working code. Since shell scripts are a significant part of many software projects, the book also discusses how to write maintainable shell scripts. And, of course, it discusses the many features that have been introduced to bash over the years: one-dimensional arrays, parameter expansion, pattern-matching operations, new commands, and security improvements.Unfailingly practical and packed with examples and questions for future study, Learning the bash Shell Third Edition is a valuable asset for Linux and other UNIX users.--back cover

Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development: Code Better, Sleep Better


Jeff Langr - 2013
    Test-driven development (TDD) is a modern software development practice that can dramatically reduce the number of defects in systems, produce more maintainable code, and give you the confidence to change your software to meet changing needs. But C++ programmers have been ignored by those promoting TDD--until now. In this book, Jeff Langr gives you hands-on lessons in the challenges and rewards of doing TDD in C++.Modern C++ Programming With Test-Driven Development, the only comprehensive treatment on TDD in C++ provides you with everything you need to know about TDD, and the challenges and benefits of implementing it in your C++ systems. Its many detailed code examples take you step-by-step from TDD basics to advanced concepts. As a veteran C++ programmer, you're already writing high-quality code, and you work hard to maintain code quality. It doesn't have to be that hard. In this book, you'll learn: how to use TDD to improve legacy C++ systems how to identify and deal with troublesome system dependencies how to do dependency injection, which is particularly tricky in C++ how to use testing tools for C++ that aid TDD new C++11 features that facilitate TDD As you grow in TDD mastery, you'll discover how to keep a massive C++ system from becoming a design mess over time, as well as particular C++ trouble spots to avoid. You'll find out how to prevent your tests from being a maintenance burden and how to think in TDD without giving up your hard-won C++ skills. Finally, you'll see how to grow and sustain TDD in your team. Whether you're a complete unit-testing novice or an experienced tester, this book will lead you to mastery of test-driven development in C++.What You Need A C++ compiler running under Windows or Linux, preferably one that supports C++11. Examples presented in the book were built under gcc 4.7.2. Google Mock 1.6 (downloadable for free; it contains Google Test as well) or an alternate C++ unit testing tool. Most examples in the book are written for Google Mock, but it isn't difficult to translate them to your tool of choice. A good programmer's editor or IDE. cmake, preferably. Of course, you can use your own preferred make too. CMakeLists.txt files are provided for each project. Examples provided were built using cmake version 2.8.9. Various freely-available third-party libraries are used as the basis for examples in the book. These include: - cURL - JsonCpp - Boost (filesystem, date_time/gregorian, algorithm, assign) Several examples use the boost headers/libraries. Only one example uses cURL and JsonCpp.

Category Theory for Programmers


Bartosz Milewski - 2014
    Collected from the series of blog posts starting at: https://bartoszmilewski.com/2014/10/2...Hardcover available at: http://www.blurb.com/b/9008339-catego...

Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit


Mary Poppendieck - 2003
    Along the way, they introduce 22 thinking tools that can help you customize the right agile practices for any environment.Better, cheaper, faster software development. You can have all three-if you adopt the same lean principles that have already revolutionized manufacturing, logistics and product development.Iterating towards excellence: software development as an exercise in discovery Managing uncertainty: decide as late as possible by building change into the system. Compressing the value stream: rapid development, feedback, and improvement Empowering teams and individuals without compromising coordination Software with integrity: promoting coherence, usability, fitness, maintainability, and adaptability How to see the whole-even when your developers are scattered across multiple locations and contractors Simply put, Lean Software Development helps you refocus development on value, flow, and people-so you can achieve breakthrough quality, savings, speed, and business alignment.

Learning Python


Mark Lutz - 2003
    Python is considered easy to learn, but there's no quicker way to mastery of the language than learning from an expert teacher. This edition of "Learning Python" puts you in the hands of two expert teachers, Mark Lutz and David Ascher, whose friendly, well-structured prose has guided many a programmer to proficiency with the language. "Learning Python," Second Edition, offers programmers a comprehensive learning tool for Python and object-oriented programming. Thoroughly updated for the numerous language and class presentation changes that have taken place since the release of the first edition in 1999, this guide introduces the basic elements of the latest release of Python 2.3 and covers new features, such as list comprehensions, nested scopes, and iterators/generators. Beyond language features, this edition of "Learning Python" also includes new context for less-experienced programmers, including fresh overviews of object-oriented programming and dynamic typing, new discussions of program launch and configuration options, new coverage of documentation sources, and more. There are also new use cases throughout to make the application of language features more concrete. The first part of "Learning Python" gives programmers all the information they'll need to understand and construct programs in the Python language, including types, operators, statements, classes, functions, modules and exceptions. The authors then present more advanced material, showing how Python performs common tasks by offering real applications and the libraries available for those applications. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises that will test your Python skills and measure your understanding."Learning Python," Second Edition is a self-paced book that allows readers to focus on the core Python language in depth. As you work through the book, you'll gain a deep and complete understanding of the Python language that will help you to understand the larger application-level examples that you'll encounter on your own. If you're interested in learning Python--and want to do so quickly and efficiently--then "Learning Python," Second Edition is your best choice.

Concurrency in C# Cookbook


Stephen Cleary - 2014
    With this cookbook, you will find recipes for writing asynchronous, parallel, and reactive code in C# that enables your app or program to engage in more than one process at a time. Presented in O’Reilly’s popular problem-solution-discussion cookbook format, this guide provides ready-to-use code, along with an explanation of why and how the solution works.

Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional


W. Jason Gilmore - 2004
    Essentially three books in one: provides thorough introductions to the PHP language and the MySQL database, and shows you how these two technologies can be effectively integrated to build powerful websites. Provides over 500 code examples, including real-world tasks such as creating an auto-login feature, sending HTML-formatted e-mail, testing password guessability, and uploading files via a web interface. Updated for MySQL 5, includes new chapters introducing triggers, stored procedures, and views.