Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
Regarding the controversial and thought-provoking assessments in this handbook, many software professionals might disagree with the authors, but all will embrace the debate. Glass identifies many of the key problems hampering success in this field. Each fact is supported by insightful discussion and detailed references.
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- So far, the best reference for software engineering research appears to be R. Glass et al.'s 2002 work, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering. I haven't found a better or more comprehensive reference.
It would be great to see an updated edition.
Do you know a better source of information?
- CatB is a fine book. That feels like such add choice for the situation, aside from just seeing if the person was willing to engage with ideas within software.
I'm curious what texts people would suggest for a non-developer to get some insight.
The ones that come to my mind are the Mythical Man Month, Peopleware, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Glass, or maybe even the 1968 NATO report on software engineering.
- As a baseline on what is know and not know about managing software projects, I always recommend Robert L. Glass Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering.
More speculatively, I think that the following biology readings are inspiring:
- Gerald Jay Sussman, Building Robust Systems an essay. In general, biology should be a source of inspiration for engineers.
- E. Goldratt, The Goal
- OP here. Thank you for all of the great suggestions! I've compiled all the references into this spreadsheet: <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kgFSWp7rM3ZegweXAoMN...>
From my perspective, the top "must-reads" are:
-- John K Ousterhout, A Philosophy of Software Design
-- Titus Winter (et al), Software Engineering at Google
-- Hanson and Sussman, Software Design for Flexibility
Other interesting titles that caught my eye:
-- Peter Naur, Programming as Theory Building
-- Scott Wlaschin, Domain Modeling Made Functional
-- Yehonathan Sharvit, Data-Oriented Programming: Unlearning objects (upcoming)
-- Nick Tune, Patterns, Principles, and Practises of Domain Driven Design
-- Robert L. Glass, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
-- Donald Reinertsen, The Principles of Product development Flow
-- Eric Normand, Grokking Simplicity
- This may be called
* Evidence based software engineeringg
* Empirical or experimental software engineering[^1]
Most people don't think about these things at all.
They think the rules of thumb are natural.
At present, I don't follow the latest research, but there are several famous books, which I recommend here.
- Making Software:What Really Works, and Why We Believe It
- Object-Oriented and Classical Software Engineering, 8th Edition
- Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
Most of the passages in those sources above are supported by detailed evidence, so following those well-marked references should lead to the latest content, except that I don't have time to do it, so I've put it aside for now.
Although this book is not a rigorous academic style, it does discuss issues related to it.
- The Problem with Software:Why Smart Engineers Write Bad
It should help you.
[^1]:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1835059/what-is-evidence...
- It is not equivalent, but if someone has the time to read the list, I would recommend instead the reading of R. L. Glass "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering" [1].
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fallacies-Software-Engineering-...
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