Rating: 
Summary: A must-have for any software developer
Review: This is the most objective book I have seen about software construction. The concepts are presented simply and in logical order. Every coding method is presented against its alternatives with strengths and weaknesses of each. The text is not specific to any language or application. It should be compulsory reading for all students wishing to become software professionals (or reviewers of software or managers of software projects).
As an experienced programmer you will recognise all those "unwritten laws" about writing good software and help you to formalise these so that you can improve and inspire your team's work.
All-in-all "Absolutely Excellent"
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely should be required reading for programmers.
Review: One of my favorite 10 books of any type. A must-have for all programmers
Rating:
Summary: Practical and humorous
Review: The book is at its best when it puts forward an idea (and discusses alternatives), supports that idea and makes you laugh at the same time.
Chapter 31, "Personal Character" is worth the cost of the book. I now have an excuse for "long-term laziness" and the ammunition to knock down those who lack "intellectual honesty and humility"!
Rating:
Summary: Completely Awesome
Review: This material is not taught in school, but it should be. This book is for the guys in the trenches, the ones who actually do the construction. It takes a pragmatic approach to the tried and true software engineering principles that are used by the industry's best engineers. The novice and expert will benefit from reading this book. And that's the beauty of it. When Steve makes a claim about a trend or characteristic that is seen in many software development processes, he backs it up with hard data from documented studies. It's like a Jedi Warrior listening to the wise advice of Obiwan Kenobi. It's filled with golden nuggets of knowledge. The text also functions as a Handbook. Topics are grouped so that the reader can go to a single section and extract the desired material without having to bounce all over the book. The art direction, graphics, organization and layout is the absolute BEST I have seen in a book on programming. When going into battle, put this book in your backpack
Rating:
Summary: One of most readable books on the subject...
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with all the reviews, both from amazon.com customers and from the industry reviewers. This is a must read if you consider yourself a programming professional. The thing that distinquishes this work from others in the genre is that it is readable from cover to cover, and it's practical. I've read too many books that never leave the theoretical plane, and it's a chore to wade through the material. Not this one... I enjoyed reading the whole thing, I saw the application to my work immediately, and it caused me to re-examine things I've been doing for 10+ years. It was well worth the money spent (even though my company DID pay for it!)
Rating:
Summary: If you buy ONE book on software development, get this one.
Review:
Titled "Code Complete", McConnell's book is the definitive reference on the phase between requirements definition and pure testing. This is a book that should actually be Required Reading for programmers; some sections of it should be tattooed on the forehead of anyone wanting to manage a development team.
After touching on requirements and specs, the author goes through the various topics that merit a developer's interest, including routine design, quality assurance, and anything you might think of. Yet he does not dictate; McConnell presents hard data why you should adopt some methodology, and then offers you a selection of methods, but he never claims that his view is the only correct one.
This alone distinguishes him positively from the likes of Booch, Rumbaugh, Jacobson and so on, who peddle their books to further their seminar operations.
The author's reading list and the annotated bibliography alone are worth the price.
By the way, to use this book most effectively, leave it lying around ... until one of your co-workers snarfs it. Then, leave another copy lying around. Repeat until your environment is fully saturated and keep a final copy to yourself. (I went, since 1993, through eleven copies of "Code Complete", and the pay-off was worth it!
Rating:
Summary: Best software Bible on the market
Review: This book still is my guide on becoming a better
software developer and changed my way of defining a
good piece of software
Rating: 
Summary: Relic from a dead profession
Review: Back in 1993, when there was a commercial software industry in America and programmers could believe that one could convince management that improving development methods would help company profit, this book was well thought of. Now, any programmer that tried suggesting changes suggested here would have his/her job sent off to Bangalore.
Rating:
Summary: The Bible for the programmer
Review: Steve McConnel has not simply written a book. He has collected, sorted and edited all relevant chapters of a tremendous number of sources (books, out of print magazines, research papers, etc.) to build the ultimate Bible for the Programmer. If you are writing code, that's your book! (Second Edition available)
Rating:
Summary: Must read for professional programmers
Review: If you've had to struggle through maintaining code written
by others who haven't a clue about how to name functions
or variables, this book is a great way to point them in
the right direction. I'm a Computer Science major who
has programmed professionally for 20 years, and this book
really polished my skills. If Steve's guidelines are followed,
readable code is the result that requires very few comments
to be understandable. This book was strongly recommended
reading at my previous job and rightly so.
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