231:. Although he does not dismiss the value of other aspects of software development such as requirements and documentation, McConnell emphasises the construction of software due to several reasons. Within the view of the book, construction is a large part of software development, as the central activity within software development and can significantly improve the productivity of a programmer when focus is directed towards it; in addition, the source code is seen as defining the operation of the software, with documentation implicated when code and documentation are opposed. Lastly, the book contends that construction is the exclusive activity which is guaranteed to remain completed.
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I'm quite disappointed, since I'd heard nothing but praise for this book before picking it up. But it's not for me, and I'm now dubious of its value for any programmer outside of a fairly narrow, large-team, waterfall development process involving large numbers of people writing very large quantities
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But the most important take-aways are in
Chapter 33, Personal Character: once you consciously seek to improve as a coder, you can and will. The fastest way to do so is to take on the attitudes of master coders (humility, curiosity, intellectual honesty, discipline, creativity), while also practicing
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The techniques of a good programmer are also given throughout the book. The whole part seven of the book is about software craftsmanship (layout, style, character, themes and self-documentation).
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of code in languages that aren't very expressive. And, well, in that situation I think one would get more benefit from changing that environment than reading this book.
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The other six parts of the book are: laying the foundation, creating high-quality code, variables, statements, code improvements and system considerations.
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There are also negative reviews about the length and style of the book, which runs to over 900 pages and goes into detail on many topics.
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has received outstanding reviews, being widely regarded as one of the leading must-reads for software developers. It won a
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This article is about the software development book. For the software release life cycle stage "code complete", see
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