hsrender@happy.colorado.edu (03/23/91)
Here are the collected responses I got from my request for suggestions for software engineering texts. For what it's worth, here are also the books I considered, ranked roughly in order of preference. I liked all of the first three, since they had the best explanations of what I want to cover (different engineering lifecycles, methods, and tools). Numbers 4 and 5 were good and covered the issue of specifications and verification better, but I felt they did so at the expense of other aspects of the development process. I may use one of them for a graduate course in software engineering. Number 6 is our current text, and my basic problem with it is the vague way it covers many of the topics. Numbers 7 and 8 aren't bad, but they are fairly low-level and don't cover many tools and techniques that I consider valuable. 1. _Software Engineering: The Production of Quality Software_ by Shari Pfleeger 2. _Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach_ by Roger Pressman 3. _Software Systems Engineering_ by Andrew Sage and James D. Palmer 4. _Fundamentals of Software Engineering_ by Ghezzi, Jayazeri and Mandrioli 5. _Software Engineering with Abstractions_ by Valdis Berzins and Luqi 6. _Software Engineering_ by Ian Sommerville 7. _Software Engineering with Student Project Guidance_ by Barbara Mynatt 8. _Software Engineering_ by Roger Jones Now the responses: From: Nancy Leveson <nancy@murphy.ICS.UCI.EDU> > Look at the new book by Ghezzi, Jazayeri, and Mandrioli. Published by > Prentice-Hall, 1991. It is better than Sommerville, although I like > much of Sommerville. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: robb@iotek.uucp (Robb Swanson) > Well, I'm not in academia, so I can't give an informed opinion > as to the suitability as a text for a course. However, _Software > Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach_ by Roger S. Pressman is > the definitive book on the subject as far as I'm concerned. > > The particulars are : > >@title: Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach >@author: Roger S. Pressman, Ph.D. >@publisher: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company >@copyright: 1987, 1982 >@isbn: 0-07-050783-X ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: straub@cs.UMD.EDU (Pablo A. Straub) > >You may want to consider these texts: > >1. David Alex Lamb, Software Engineering: Planning for Change, > Prentice-Hall, 1988, 298 pages. > >2. Berzins and Luqi, Software Engineering with Abstractions, > Addison Wesley, 1991, 624 pages. > >Both books have a good emphasis on using formal techinques (i.e., doing >engineering proper), but they do not disregard informal methods. In both >books, chapters are roughly organized around the traditional lifecycle. > >Book 1 has the advantage of being shorter, yet covering most relevant >topics (lifecycle phases, formal specs, v&v, configurations, management, >etc.). It is very appropriate for an undergrad course. This book >emphasizes that maintenance is a given and should be taken into account >(hence the title). Several specification techniques are covered and used >to develop a project in Pascal. > >Book 2 is longer and can be used in a two-term sequence or for graduate >students (it's possible to use it in a one-term undergrad course by >covering only part of the material). One thing I like is that management >and validation is given in all chapters, so that these activities are >integrated into the development process. The title--and book--emphasize >the use of formally specified abstractions. The authors use their >specification language (Spec) to develop a proyect in Ada. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ewoods@hemel.bull.co.uk (Eoin Woods) >A very good one (in my opinion at least!) is : > > "A Practical Handbook for Software Development" > - N.D. Birrell and M.A. Ould > Cambridge University Press, 1985/88 > > ISBN 0-521-34792-0 (Paper cover) > ISBN 0-521-25462-0 (Hard cover) From: johnson@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Michelle Johnson) >Please excuse any errors that may occur - this is my first >time on rnews. I am a Computer Scientist taking software >engineering courses at Johns Hopkins Univ. for my masters. >Our very first course used Pressman's Software Engineering: >A Practitioner's Approach w/copyright date of 1987 by >McGraw-Hill, Inc. I also used this book for an undergraduate >class. I thought it was a good text book as well as reference >book. McGraw-Hill has a series of books - one of which I am >reading now for an Advanced Topics class - Software Reliability.