Software Engineering - Reading Pressman's "Software Engineering

Author

Reading Pressman's "Software Engineering - a practitioner's approach"

Victor

2004-04-20, 8:35 am

I have just started re-reading Roger Pressman's "Software Engineering -
a practitioner's approach", third edition.

We have used it at University in our third year Software Engineering
course (1993). I have been doing development since end of '95, so now
with some real world experience, I can compare my experiences with the
book's suggestions - what works in the trenches, what doesn't and where
things went wrong.

Obviously a lot has happened in the SE field since '93, but I am more
interested in the fundamentals that haven't changed and/or is still
applicable - those things we all know about but never do or simply ignore.

I am sure that there are many other good SE books/websites out there,
but for now I will focus on this book. Your suggestions are welcome.

As I go along in the coming months, I will post my observations and
comments to this group and I look forward to hear your ideas.

Regards
Vic

Alan Gauld

2004-04-22, 6:36 am

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:03:53 +0200, Victor <Victor@com.com>
wrote:
> I have just started re-reading Roger Pressman's "Software Engineering -
> a practitioner's approach", third edition.

I started with his second edition in 1988, I also bought the
fourth and the fifth editions - indicative of the speed of change
in SE!

The fifth edition is a very different book to the third edition,
many of the older techniques are no longer discussed and OO
coverage is considerably enhanced.

> Obviously a lot has happened in the SE field since '93, but I am more
> interested in the fundamentals that haven't changed and/or is still
> applicable - those things we all know about but never do or simply ignore.

Absolutely valid. Most of what we need to do hasn't changed that
much, only the techniques and tools and technology. And many of
the older methods still teach valuable lessons and can be
usefully applied in modern projects.

> I am sure that there are many other good SE books/websites out there,
> but for now I will focus on this book. Your suggestions are welcome.

The other one I recommend alongside Pressman is McConnell's
"Rapid Development" which complements his programmer level
"Code Complete".

A few smaller but thought provoking additions would be
Peopleware by Lister and DeMarco(?) which looks at the human side
of software projects.

Also "Facts & Fallacies of Software Engineering" by Robert Glass
This reminds us of how little has changed and the real problems
we still face in SE despite the advances of recent years.

HTH,

Alan G.
Author of the Learn to Program website
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld

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