The Leprechauns of Software Engineering


Laurent Bossavit - 2012
    You can think of this problem as a variant of the well known "telephone game", where some trivial rumor is repeated from one person to the next until it has become distorted beyond recognition and blown up out of all proportion.Unfortunately, the objects of this telephone game are generally considered cornerstone truths of the discipline, to the point that their acceptance now seems to hinder further progress.In this short ebook, we will take a look at some of those "ground truths": the claimed 10x variation in productivity between developers; the "software crisis"; the cost-of-change curve; the "cone of uncertainty"; and more. We'll hone our scholarship skills by looking up the original source for these ideas and taking a deep dive in the history of their development. We'll assess the real weight of the evidence behind these ideas.And we'll confront the scary prospect of moving the state of the art forward in a discipline that has had the ground kicked from under it.

The Quick Python Book


Naomi R. Ceder - 2000
    This updated edition includes all the changes in Python 3, itself a significant shift from earlier versions of Python.The book begins with basic but useful programs that teach the core features of syntax, control flow, and data structures. It then moves to larger applications involving code management, object-oriented programming, web development, and converting code from earlier versions of Python.True to his audience of experienced developers, the author covers common programming language features concisely, while giving more detail to those features unique to Python.Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

The Joy of Clojure


Michael Fogus - 2010
    It combines the nice features of a scripting language with the powerful features of a production environment—features like persistent data structures and clean multithreading that you'll need for industrial-strength application development.The Joy of Clojure goes beyond just syntax to show you how to write fluent and idiomatic Clojure code. You'll learn a functional approach to programming and will master Lisp techniques that make Clojure so elegant and efficient. The book gives you easy access to hard soft ware areas like concurrency, interoperability, and performance. And it shows you how great it can be to think about problems the Clojure way. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. What's InsideThe what and why of ClojureHow to work with macrosHow to do elegant application designFunctional programming idiomsWritten for programmers coming to Clojure from another programming background—no prior experience with Clojure or Lisp is required.

Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World


Venkat Subramaniam - 2006
    You'll learn pragmatic ways of approaching the development process and your personal coding techniques. You'll learn about your own attitudes, issues with working on a team, and how to best manage your learning, all in an iterative, incremental, agile style. You'll see how to apply each practice, and what benefits you can expect. Bottom line: This book will make you a better developer.

Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time


Titus Winters - 2020
    With this book, you'll get a candid and insightful look at how software is constructed and maintained by some of the world's leading practitioners.Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck, and Hyrum K. Wright, software engineers and a technical writer at Google, reframe how software engineering is practiced and taught: from an emphasis on programming to an emphasis on software engineering, which roughly translates to programming over time.You'll learn:Fundamental differences between software engineering and programmingHow an organization effectively manages a living codebase and efficiently responds to inevitable changeWhy culture (and recognizing it) is important, and how processes, practices, and tools come into play

Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby


Sandi Metz - 2012
    The Web is awash in Ruby code that is now virtually impossible to change or extend. This text helps you solve that problem by using powerful real-world object-oriented design techniques, which it thoroughly explains using simple and practical Ruby examples. Sandi Metz has distilled a lifetime of conversations and presentations about object-oriented design into a set of Ruby-focused practices for crafting manageable, extensible, and pleasing code. She shows you how to build new applications that can survive success and repair existing applications that have become impossible to change. Each technique is illustrated with extended examples, all downloadable from the companion Web site, poodr.info. The first title to focus squarely on object-oriented Ruby application design, Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby will guide you to superior outcomes, whatever your previous Ruby experience. Novice Ruby programmers will find specific rules to live by; intermediate Ruby programmers will find valuable principles they can flexibly interpret and apply; and advanced Ruby programmers will find a common language they can use to lead development and guide their colleagues. This guide will help you Understand how object-oriented programming can help you craft Ruby code that is easier to maintain and upgrade Decide what belongs in a single Ruby class Avoid entangling objects that should be kept separate Define flexible interfaces among objects Reduce programming overhead costs with duck typing Successfully apply inheritance Build objects via composition Design cost-effective tests Solve common problems associated with poorly designed Ruby code

Debugging the Development Process: Practical Strategies for Staying Focused, Hitting Ship Dates, and Building Solid Teams


Steve Maguire - 1994
    With the refreshing candor reviewers admired in Writing Solid Code, Maguire talks about what did and what didn't work at Microsoft and tells you how to energize software teams to work effectively - and to enjoy their work; why you might want to kick your star programmer off your team; how to avoid corporate snares and overblown corporate processes; which tiny changes produce major results; how to deliver on schedule and without overwork; how to pull twice the value out of everything you do; how to get your team going on a creative roll; and how to raise the average programmer level at your company.

The Little Go Book


Karl Seguin - 2014
    It's aimed at developers who might not be quite comfortable with the idea of pointers and static typing.http://openmymind.net/The-Little-Go-B...

Algorithms


Sanjoy Dasgupta - 2006
    Emphasis is placed on understanding the crisp mathematical idea behind each algorithm, in a manner that is intuitive and rigorous without being unduly formal. Features include: The use of boxes to strengthen the narrative: pieces that provide historical context, descriptions of how the algorithms are used in practice, and excursions for the mathematically sophisticated.Carefully chosen advanced topics that can be skipped in a standard one-semester course, but can be covered in an advanced algorithms course or in a more leisurely two-semester sequence.An accessible treatment of linear programming introduces students to one of the greatest achievements in algorithms. An optional chapter on the quantum algorithm for factoring provides a unique peephole into this exciting topic. In addition to the text, DasGupta also offers a Solutions Manual, which is available on the Online Learning Center.Algorithms is an outstanding undergraduate text, equally informed by the historical roots and contemporary applications of its subject. Like a captivating novel, it is a joy to read. Tim Roughgarden Stanford University

Programmers at Work: Interviews With 19 Programmers Who Shaped the Computer Industry (Tempus)


Susan Lammers - 1986
    A classic title on the PC revolution originally published in 1986. Featuring Bill Gates, Andy Hertzfeld, Charles Simonyi, Ray Ozzie, Michael Hawley and many more.

Understanding the Four Rules of Simple Design


Corey Haines - 2014
    This is why it is imperative to build systems that are flexible and can adapt to changing requirements, both expected and (more often) unexpected. That is why I've written this book.From 2009 to 2014, I traveled the world working with software developers, both individually and in teams, to improve their craft. Primarily, I did this through a training workshop format called coderetreat. Over those years, I had the opportunity to watch 1000's of pairs of programmers work on exactly the same system, Conway's Game of Life. As time progressed, I began to see patterns arise. I noticed common techniques and designs that spanned languages and companies and crossed national borders.As co-founder and a facilitator of coderetreat workshops, I had the unique opportunity to provide feedback, both direct and through questions, on improving the act of writing adaptable, simple code. Through the day, we worked on improving our ability to make good choices around the minute-by-minute decisions made while writing code.This book is about those things I learned from watching these 1000's of pairs working on the same problem. It contains a large part of the feedback that I provide during a typical coderetreat. The primary focus is on the thought process behind refactoring, and how that is influenced by the 4 rules of simple design.This book is not about Conway's Game of Life. Instead, it uses its domain as a backdrop to discuss the thoughts and ideas behind the 4 rules of simple design. It focuses on the small decisions made while designing your code with the goal of building robust, adaptable codebases that can stand the test of time.

Seven Concurrency Models in Seven Weeks: When Threads Unravel


Paul Butcher - 2014
    Concurrency and parallelism are the keys, and Seven Concurrency Models in Seven Weeks equips you for this new world. See how emerging technologies such as actors and functional programming address issues with traditional threads and locks development. Learn how to exploit the parallelism in your computer's GPU and leverage clusters of machines with MapReduce and Stream Processing. And do it all with the confidence that comes from using tools that help you write crystal clear, high-quality code. This book will show you how to exploit different parallel architectures to improve your code's performance, scalability, and resilience. Learn about the perils of traditional threads and locks programming and how to overcome them through careful design and by working with the standard library. See how actors enable software running on geographically distributed computers to collaborate, handle failure, and create systems that stay up 24/7/365. Understand why shared mutable state is the enemy of robust concurrent code, and see how functional programming together with technologies such as Software Transactional Memory (STM) and automatic parallelism help you tame it. You'll learn about the untapped potential within every GPU and how GPGPU software can unleash it. You'll see how to use MapReduce to harness massive clusters to solve previously intractible problems, and how, in concert with Stream Processing, big data can be tamed. With an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the different models and hardware architectures, you'll be empowered to tackle any problem with confidence.What You Need: The example code can be compiled and executed on *nix, OS X, or Windows. Instructions on how to download the supporting build systems are given in each chapter.

The Road to React


Robin Wieruch - 2017
    This book uses the common sense of these roads and weaves it into the implementation of an attractive app. You will build a Hacker News React app. On the road you will learn ES6, React with all its basics and advanced concepts and internal state management.' to 'A lot of roadmaps exist on how to master React. This book uses the common sense of these roads and weaves it into the implementation of an attractive app. You will build a Hacker News React app. On the road you will learn ES6, React with all its basics and advanced concepts and internal state management. http://www.robinwieruch.de/the-road-t...

Computer Science Distilled: Learn the Art of Solving Computational Problems


Wladston Ferreira Filho - 2017
    Designed for readers who don't need the academic formality, it's a fast and easy computer science guide. It teaches essential concepts for people who want to program computers effectively. First, it introduces discrete mathematics, then it exposes the most common algorithms and data structures. It also shows the principles that make computers and programming languages work.

Exercises in Programming Style


Cristina Videira Lopes - 2014
    It is designed to be used in conjunction with code provided on an online repository. The book complements and explains the raw code in a way that is accessible to anyone who regularly practices the art of programming. The book can also be used in advanced programming courses in computer science and software engineering programs.The book contains 33 different styles for writing the term frequency task. The styles are grouped into nine categories: historical, basic, function composition, objects and object interactions, reflection and metaprogramming, adversity, data-centric, concurrency, and interactivity. The author verbalizes the constraints in each style and explains the example programs. Each chapter first presents the constraints of the style, next shows an example program, and then gives a detailed explanation of the code. Most chapters also have sections focusing on the use of the style in systems design as well as sections describing the historical context in which the programming style emerged.