Developer's Reading List
, January 24, 2012 The latest books off the press cover code readability, Java performance, hunting for and prying open security defects, game testing, architecture, and even OpenVMS.
Also Received
Software Change Management — Case Studies and Practical Advice
Donald J. Reifer
Microsoft Press
A collection of 11 case studies on major IT projects undertaken in public, commercial, and academic contexts. They are presented crisply, with a good quick analysis of the issues and the results. Each chapter ends with a series of bullet point recommendations. As with all books that present case histories, their value depends substantially on how much they resonate with your own situation.
The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer
Roland Hughes
Logikal Solutions
Probably the definitive book available today on how to program OpenVMS. It presents examples in C primarily (and repeats the examples in other languages) and explains in detail what the OS is doing and how it operates in the context of the specific code. OpenVMS utilities and screen management packages are also explored in detail. The explanations, however, are intended for readers familiar with OpenVMS. This is not intended to be a beginner’s tutorial to the OS. The book, which was first published in 2006 but only recently came to our attention, is hard to find and is probably best ordered directly from one of the links on the author's site.
Software Architecture — A Comprehensive Framework and Guide for Practitioners
Oliver Vogel, Ingo Arnold, Arif Chughtai, Timo Kehrer
Springer
An extensive, but not deep, survey of various architectural technologies and methodologies (including Zachman Framework, Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, 4+1 View Model, Open Group Architecture Framework, Requirements Characteristics and Types, Organizational Requirements, System Requirements, Qualities and Constraints, Requirements in the Context of Architecture, Loose Coupling, High Cohesion, Separation of Concerns, Abstraction, Modularity, Traceability, Procedural Approaches, Object Orientation, Component Orientation, Model-Driven Software Development, Aspect Orientation, and so on.) [Note: list taken from third-party review]. Overall, while clear and well-written, this feels like a textbook for a college course — without the exercises.
All reviews this page by Dr. Dobb's staff.
image by Billy Frank Alexander
