Chapter 35. Where to Find More Information

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Contents

• Information About Software Construction page 856

• Topics Beyond Construction page 857

• Periodicals page 859

• A Software Developer's Reading Plan page 860

• Joining a Professional Organization page 862

Related Topics

• Web resources: http://www.cc2e.com

If you've read this far, you already know that a lot has been written about effective software-development practices. Much more information is available than most people realize. People have already made all the mistakes that you're making now, and unless you're a glutton for punishment, you'll prefer reading their books and avoiding their mistakes to inventing new versions of old problems.

Because this book describes hundreds of other books and articles that contain information on software development, it's hard to know what to read first. A software-development library is made up of several kinds of information. A core of programming books explains fundamental concepts of effective programming. Related books explain the larger technical, management, and intellectual contexts within which programming goes on. And detailed references on languages, operating systems, environments, and hardware contain information that's useful for specific projects.

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Books in the last category generally have a life span of about one project; they're more or less temporary and aren't discussed here. Of the other kinds of books, it's useful to have a core set that discusses each of the major software-development activities in depth: books on requirements, design, construction, management, testing, and so on. The following sections describe construction resources in depth and then provide an overview of materials available in other software knowledge areas. Section 35.4 wraps these resources into a neat package by defining a software developer's reading program.