Constructing Superior Software (Software Quality Institute Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good Book Overall
Review: I liked the book overall, even with the disjointed (lack of transition) order the topics were presented. A page describing the intent and reader ROI of each of the three sections would be helpful. Several photgraphs were poorly reproduced. The "User-Centered Design and Development" and "Teamwork Considerations for Superior Software Development" chapters provided the most value.

Darryl

Rating:
Summary: Excellent job by writers
Review: The writers have done an excellent job of describing how to build quality software in a practical way. The writers not only have a good theoretical understanding of developing quality software systems, it's clear that they are practitioners as well. A practitioner of software development will readily identify with the book and will find it useful in each phase of the development life cycle. I particularily enjoyed the chapters on software architecture and software measurement. Thank you!

David

Rating:
Summary: High Quality
Review: This is the first book produced by the Software Quality Institute (SQI) of the University of Texas at Austin. Therefore, it is not surprising that the book is about building high-quality software systems. As the authors point out throughout the book, constructing high-quality software systems result in delivering high quality end-product, having satisfied customers, and completing projects within the cost and schedule constraints. The central theme of the book is "quality" and how to integrate it in the entire software development process to produce superior products. It is refreshing to note that the book, instead of treating quality as separate measure, shows how it should start from the beginning of the project and permeate to all aspects of the development cycle. The book is divided into three parts. Part I- Quality Systems, starts with concepts of Software Development System (SDS). Part II- Quality Design covers the importance and criticality of software architecture to achieve required functions, performance levels, and reliability of the system. Part III - Quality Projects outlines important considerations of software development process such as Team building, implementing effective and reliable measurement, and selection of appropriate tools.

The book is written in an easy-to-read style with sufficient examples to back up the discussion. Software professionals at all levels--- project manger, developers, and QA specialists- will benefit from reading this book and periodically reviewing it to remind themselves what is important to produce a high-quality software system. Those looking for an exhaustive discussion on the topics contained in the book will find it a good starting point with sufficient references for further study.

Chetna