Creating Effective Software: Computer Program Design Using the Jackson Methodology (Yourdon Computing Series) [Hardcover]

David King (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (January 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131892428
• ISBN-13: 978-0131892422
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,164,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great description of Computer Program Design technique., October 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Creating Effective Software: Computer Program Design Using the Jackson Methodology (Yourdon Computing Series) (Hardcover)

King's step-by-step description of the Jackson Program design method is the clearest such description I've encountered. This book should be required reading for all actual and would-be computer programmers. The technique covered can be used in all programming environments and builds a strong basis for solving all types of programming problems. King's writing style renders a difficult subject fascinating and amusing. This book should be on all software engineers' and programmers' bookshelves.

5.0 out of 5 stars Data-driven design is how to do it!, June 24, 2007

By 

Brian C. Miller (Everett, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating Effective Software: Computer Program Design Using the Jackson Methodology (Yourdon Computing Series) (Hardcover)

When Watergate broke, Woodward and Bernstein were told to follow the money. For every programmer, it is "follow the data!" The essence of program design is to write software with ease. This book shows an effective method of writing software.

The Jackson methodology was originally written for COBOL. What does COBOL have to do with our modern programming environment? Streams! COBOL was originally written for an environment where a stack of punched cards was transformed into another stack of punched cards, or a printout. Well, what is a stack of cards? It's a stream of data! What do we have today? Steams upon streams upon streams of data!

This book teaches the reader how to think in terms of streams. Once the data is understood and diagrammed, the program follows with ease. Data comes in sequence, selection, and iteration. Executable operations (not necessarily individual lines of code) are allocated along the data's stream path diagram. The program is then coded according to the resulting diagram.

In my own experience, I have solved problems that others literally said were impossible using JSP. I have lost this book once, and I hope I never do that again. So just follow the data and write good code, OK?

Chapters:
1: What is program design?
2: The basic methodology (and how to do it)
3: Some simple programs
4: Good and bad data
5: Handling unpredictable data errors and situations
6: Merging multiple sets of input data (the collating technique)
7: More complex programming problems
8: Jackson and other techniques
9: Jackson and technology
10: Testing
11: Jackson and system design
12: Coding considerations
13: Implementation of the Jackson methodology
14: The future of the Jackson methodology

From inside the front cover (nice and concise diagram):
Requirement Specification -> Structure Problem Logic -> Structure Program Logic -> Allocate Program Operations -> Code and Compile -> Program
"Methodology: complete, precise sequence of design procedures enforces exact correspondence between program and problem. Procedures resolve simplest or most complex design problems and insure accurate and consistent results."