The Problem with Software: Why Smart Engineers Write Bad Code


Adam Barr - 2018
    As the size and complexity of commercial software have grown, the gap between academic computer science and industry has widened. It's an open secret that there is little engineering in software engineering, which continues to rely not on codified scientific knowledge but on intuition and experience.Barr, who worked as a programmer for more than twenty years, describes how the industry has evolved, from the era of mainframes and Fortran to today's embrace of the cloud. He explains bugs and why software has so many of them, and why today's interconnected computers offer fertile ground for viruses and worms. The difference between good and bad software can be a single line of code, and Barr includes code to illustrate the consequences of seemingly inconsequential choices by programmers. Looking to the future, Barr writes that the best prospect for improving software engineering is the move to the cloud. When software is a service and not a product, companies will have more incentive to make it good rather than "good enough to ship."

Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information into Insight


John W. Foreman - 2013
    Major retailers are predicting everything from when their customers are pregnant to when they want a new pair of Chuck Taylors. It's a brave new world where seemingly meaningless data can be transformed into valuable insight to drive smart business decisions.But how does one exactly do data science? Do you have to hire one of these priests of the dark arts, the "data scientist," to extract this gold from your data? Nope.Data science is little more than using straight-forward steps to process raw data into actionable insight. And in Data Smart, author and data scientist John Foreman will show you how that's done within the familiar environment of a spreadsheet. Why a spreadsheet? It's comfortable! You get to look at the data every step of the way, building confidence as you learn the tricks of the trade. Plus, spreadsheets are a vendor-neutral place to learn data science without the hype. But don't let the Excel sheets fool you. This is a book for those serious about learning the analytic techniques, the math and the magic, behind big data.Each chapter will cover a different technique in a spreadsheet so you can follow along: - Mathematical optimization, including non-linear programming and genetic algorithms- Clustering via k-means, spherical k-means, and graph modularity- Data mining in graphs, such as outlier detection- Supervised AI through logistic regression, ensemble models, and bag-of-words models- Forecasting, seasonal adjustments, and prediction intervals through monte carlo simulation- Moving from spreadsheets into the R programming languageYou get your hands dirty as you work alongside John through each technique. But never fear, the topics are readily applicable and the author laces humor throughout. You'll even learn what a dead squirrel has to do with optimization modeling, which you no doubt are dying to know.

Beginning Programming with Java for Dummies


Barry Burd - 2003
    Covering everything from basic Java development concepts to the latest tools and techniques used in Java, this book will put would-be programmers on their way to Java mastery Explores what goes into creating a program, how to put the pieces together, dealing with standard programming challenges, debugging, and making it work Updated for the release of the Java SDK 2.0, with all examples revised to reflect the changes in the technology

Data Analysis Using SQL and Excel


Gordon S. Linoff - 2007
    This book helps you use SQL and Excel to extract business information from relational databases and use that data to define business dimensions, store transactions about customers, produce results, and more. Each chapter explains when and why to perform a particular type of business analysis in order to obtain useful results, how to design and perform the analysis using SQL and Excel, and what the results should look like.

MATLAB Programming for Engineers


Stephen J. Chapman - 1999
    The book teaches MATLAB as a technical programming language showing students how to write clean, efficient, and well-documented programs. It makes no pretense at being a complete description of all of MATLAB's hundreds of functions. Instead, it teaches students how to locate any desired function with MATLAB's extensive on line help facilities. Overall, students develop problem-solving skills and are equipped for future courses and careers using the power of MATLAB.

Hacking: The Art of Exploitation


Jon Erickson - 2003
    This book explains the technical aspects of hacking, including stack based overflows, heap based overflows, string exploits, return-into-libc, shellcode, and cryptographic attacks on 802.11b.

Cloud Architecture Patterns: Using Microsoft Azure


Bill Wilder - 2012
    You’ll learn how each of these platform-agnostic patterns work, when they might be useful in the cloud, and what impact they’ll have on your application architecture. You’ll also see an example of each pattern applied to an application built with Windows Azure.The patterns are organized into four major topics, such as scalability and handling failure, and primer chapters provide background on each topic. With the information in this book, you’ll be able to make informed decisions for designing effective cloud-native applications that maximize the value of cloud services, while also paying attention to user experience and operational efficiency.Learn about architectural patterns for:Scalability. Discover the advantages of horizontal scaling. Patterns covered include Horizontally Scaling Compute, Queue-Centric Workflow, and Auto-Scaling.Big data. Learn how to handle large amounts of data across a distributed system. Eventual consistency is explained, along with the MapReduce and Database Sharding patterns.Handling failure. Understand how multitenant cloud services and commodity hardware influence your applications. Patterns covered include Busy Signal and Node Failure.Distributed users. Learn how to overcome delays due to network latency when building applications for a geographically distributed user base. Patterns covered include Colocation, Valet Key, CDN, and Multi-Site Deployment.

Lessons Learned in Software Testing: A Context-Driven Approach


Cem Kaner - 2001
    Along the way, there is an abundance of traps that one can fall into, which can derail the best-laid plans and put your projects behind schedule.Cem Kaner, James Bach, and Bret Pettichord know this all too well. Between them, they have over fifty years of testing experience, and know what it takes for successful testing. In this groundbreaking new book, they have compiled 293 pieces of experience-tested advice for you to put to work in your testing projects. They reveal insights on how to do the job well, how to manage it, and how to steer clear of common misunderstandings in software testing. Each lesson is an assertion related to software testing, followed by an explanation or example that shows you the how, when, and why of the testing lesson.The ultimate resource for software testers, developers, and managers at every level of expertise, this guidebook also features:- Useful practices and helpful ways of evaluating situations gleaned from over fifty years of combined testing experience from the world's leading software testing experts- Lessons for all key topic areas including test design, test automation, test management, testing strategies, and bug reporting- Advice on how to match the selection of practices to the circumstances of your project

Code Simplicity: The Fundamentals of Software


Max Kanat-Alexander - 2012
    This book contains the fundamental laws of software development, the primary pieces of understanding that make the difference between a mid-level/junior programmer and the high-level senior software engineer. The book exists to help all programmers understand the process of writing software, on a very fundamental level that can be applied to any programming language or project, from here into eternity. Code Simplicity is also written in such a way that even non-technical managers of software teams can gain an understanding of what the “right way” and the “wrong way” is (and why they are right and wrong) when it comes to software design. The focus of the book is primarily on “software design,” the process of creating a plan for a software project and making technical decisions about the pattern and structure of a system.

PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide


Larry Ullman - 2003
    This work provides instructions, scripts, and tips to guide readers for grounding with discussions of the scripting language (PHP) and then the database program (MySQL).

Fundamentals of Data Structures in C++


Ellis Horowitz - 1995
    Fundamentals of Data Structures in C++ offers a complete rendering of basic data structure implementations, enhanced by superior pedagogy and astute analyses.

The Rails 3 Way


Obie Fernandez - 2010
    "The Rails(TM) 3 Way"is the only comprehensive, authoritative guide to delivering production-quality code with Rails 3. Pioneering Rails expert Obie Fernandez and a team of leading experts illuminate the entire Rails 3 API, along with the idioms, design approaches, and libraries that make developing applications with Rails so powerful. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience and track record, they address the real challenges development teams face, showing how to use Rails 3 to maximize your productivity. Using numerous detailed code examples, the author systematically covers Rails 3 key capabilities and subsystems, making this book a reference that you will turn to again and again. He presents advanced Rails programming techniques that have been proven effective in day-to-day usage on dozens of production Rails systems and offers important insights into behavior-driven development and production considerations such as scalability. Dive deep into the Rails 3 codebase and discover why Rails is designed the way it is--and how to make it do what you want it to do.This book will help youLearn what's new in Rails 3 Increase your productivity as a web application developer Realize the overall joy in programming with Rails Leverage Rails' powerful capabilities for building REST-compliant APIs Drive implementation and protect long-term maintainability using RSpec Design and manipulate your domain layer using Active Record Understand and program complex program flows using Action Controller Master sophisticated URL routing concepts Use Ajax techniques via Rails 3 support for unobtrusive JavaScript Learn to extend Rails with popular gems and plugins, and how to write your own Extend Rails with the best third-party plug-ins and write your own Integrate email services into your applications with Action Mailer Improve application responsiveness with background processing Create your own non-Active Record domain classes using Active Model Master Rails' utility classes and extensions in Active Support

Java Se8 for the Really Impatient: A Short Course on the Basics


Cay S. Horstmann - 2013
    The addition of lambda expressions (closures) and streams represents the biggest change to Java programming since the introduction of generics and annotations. Now, with Java SE 8 for the Really Impatient , internationally renowned Java author Cay S. Horstmann concisely introduces Java 8's most valuable new features (plus a few Java 7 innovations that haven't gotten the attention they deserve). If you're an experienced Java programmer, Horstmann's practical insights and sample code will help you quickly take advantage of these and other Java language and platform improvements. This indispensable guide includes Coverage of using lambda expressions (closures) to write computation "snippets" that can be passed to utility functions The brand-new streams API that makes Java collections far more flexible and efficient Major updates to concurrent programming that make use of lambda expressions (filter/map/reduce) and that provide dramatic performance improvements for shared counters and hash tables A full chapter with advice on how you can put lambda expressions to work in your own programs Coverage of the long-awaited introduction of a well-designed date/time/calendar library (JSR 310) A concise introduction to JavaFX, which is positioned to replace Swing GUIs, and to the Nashorn Javascript engine A thorough discussion of many small library changes that make Java programming more productive and enjoyable This is the first title to cover all of these highly anticipated improvements and is invaluable for anyone who wants to write tomorrow's most robust, efficient, and secure Java code.

Linux Kernel Development


Robert Love - 2003
    The book details the major subsystems and features of the Linux kernel, including its design, implementation, and interfaces. It covers the Linux kernel with both a practical and theoretical eye, which should appeal to readers with a variety of interests and needs. The author, a core kernel developer, shares valuable knowledge and experience on the 2.6 Linux kernel. Specific topics covered include process management, scheduling, time management and timers, the system call interface, memory addressing, memory management, the page cache, the VFS, kernel synchronization, portability concerns, and debugging techniques. This book covers the most interesting features of the Linux 2.6 kernel, including the CFS scheduler, preemptive kernel, block I/O layer, and I/O schedulers. The third edition of Linux Kernel Development includes new and updated material throughout the book:An all-new chapter on kernel data structuresDetails on interrupt handlers and bottom halvesExtended coverage of virtual memory and memory allocationTips on debugging the Linux kernelIn-depth coverage of kernel synchronization and lockingUseful insight into submitting kernel patches and working with the Linux kernel community

New Programmer's Survival Manual


Joshua Carter - 2011
    You've got the programming chops, you're up on the latest tech, you're sitting at your workstation... now what? New Programmer's Survival Manual gives your career the jolt it needs to get going: essential industry skills to help you apply your raw programming talent and make a name for yourself. It's a no-holds-barred look at what really goes on in the office--and how to not only survive, but thrive in your first job and beyond. Programming at industry level requires new skills - you'll build programs that dwarf anything you've done on your own. This book introduces you to practices for working on large-scale, long-lived programs at a professional level of quality. You'll find out how to work efficiently with your current tools, and discover essential new tools. But the tools are only part of the story; you've got to get street-smart too. Succeeding in the corporate working environment requires its own savvy. You'll learn how to navigate the office, work with your teammates, and how to deal with other people outside of your department. You'll understand where you fit into the big picture and how you contribute to the company's success. You'll also get a candid look at the tougher aspects of the job: stress, conflict, and office politics. Finally, programming is a job you can do for the long haul. This book helps you look ahead to the years to come, and your future opportunities--either as a programmer or in another role you grow into. There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of shipping a product and knowing, "I built that." Whether you work on embedded systems or web-based applications, in trendy technologies or legacy systems, this book helps you get from raw skill to an accomplished professional.