Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
This topic is an enduring classic by a top professor of software engineering.
Roger Pressman is a good writer, and this excellent book covers software engin-
eering from beginning to end, including requirements, architecture, design, cod-
ing, testing, and even the managerial tasks of planning and estimating. This topic
stays current, as can be seen by its number of editions.
This is a large book filled with interesting information. It is not the only book
on software engineering, but it was chosen for this bibliography because of its con-
tinuing relevance and its good writing.
Royce, Walker E. Software Project Management—A Unified Approach .
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1998.
This topic dates from 1998 but is still modern enough to be useful. It has the
virtue of looking at and considering a number of older software project manage-
ment methods before presenting the method recommended by the author.
Walker Royce is an IBM vice president and the chief economist of IBM Ra-
tional. He has many years of experience behind him, so the topic is based on em-
pirical evidence. The reference is included in the current book because failures in
software project management lead to more lawsuits and canceled software projects
than technical failures by the software engineering community.
Walker was also a pioneer at Rational in the development of the rational unified
process (RUP), although many colleagues at Rational also made major contribu-
tions.
Starr, Paul. The Social Transformation of American Medicine . Basic Books,
New York, 1984.
This is not a software book but rather a history of the emergence of U.S. med-
ical practice from a minor craft to a major profession. The topic won the Pulitzer
Prize for nonfiction in 1984. There are excellent lessons for the software commu-
nity in how the American Medical Association (AMA) was able to improve med-
ical education, initiate licensing and board certification, and weed out quackery.
Only 150 years ago, medical practices and medical education were worse than
software today. Many medical schools were for-profit institutions and did not de-
mand college degrees or even high school completion. Over half of U.S. phys-
icians never went to college. Medical degrees were two-year programs and did
not include internships or residency programs. Worse, students never even entered
hospitals because the hospitals had their own private medical staffs. There was
no malpractice monitoring. Harmful products such as arsenic and opium could be
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