Rating: 
Summary: Good summary of Software Engineering ideas and trends
Review: Written in the style of "Effective */More Effective *", this book presents what the author asserts are 55 facts about software engineering.While you will see the obligatory "Adding people to a late project makes it later" section, the book also introduces several 'facts' that I have never really thought much about e.g. "Enhancements represent roughly 60 percent of maintenance costs" The true gems of this book are the 'source' and 'reference' section of each fact. Their purposes are twofold. Firstly, they serve to validate the author's claim for each of these facts. Secondly, they provide readers with good follow-ups.
Amazingly, many if not most of the software classic are somehow mentioned in this book. (Even the cult classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance!) This book manages to capture most of the essence of software engineering literature of today. Certainly, you may not agree with what the author terms as facts. The author does attempt to address these issues under 'Controversy' for each fact. If you read this book, be sure to follow up on your reading with one of the many mentioned articles/books. Otherwise, you could potentially be left with only a surface understanding of the many issues involved. Fact 56: "This reviews is written from the viewpoint of a 4 year old software developer in Singapore"
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