Object Success : A Manager's Guide to Object-Oriented Technology And Its Impact On the Corporation (Object-Oriented Series) [Hardcover]

Meyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1995 | Series: Object-Oriented Series

Presents object technology in a plain way, free of hype and technical jargon, and describes in detail how objects affect the software construction process, and what aspects of the business it does not affect. Sets precise expectations as to what a business can and cannot get from the transition to objects. Focuses on the impact of object technology on a corporation. Presents a coherent view of the new software lifecycle, and describes the cluster model, supporting reusability and flexibility. Provides concrete, directly usable information on how best to plan the transition, and what pitfalls to avoid. For managers, it will provide them with hundreds of practical tips on how to use object technology to a company's best advantage.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written for managers, Object Success explains in clear, not-too-technical language, all of the key object-orientation concepts. This is the introductory text you need if you're a non-programmer who wants to get up to speed on objects. Loaded with commentary on the management issues involved in developing complex software, object-orientation expert Bertrand Meyer provides you with the background information needed to track and guide object-oriented software-development projects. With the help of this book, managers will be able to speak intelligently with their programmers about what's going on, anticipate common development problems, and be assets to a development team rather than interfering pests who simply distribute paychecks. Meyer, the creator of the respected Eiffel programming language and the author of the excellent (though technical) Object-Oriented Software Construction, begins by exploring 10 key object-orientation principles, including abstraction, inheritance, and restricted communication. Meyer clearly explains these 10 principles without a hint of code. Understanding them will improve your comprehension of modern software design. Meyer then proceeds to discuss the concept of reusability in depth, focusing on the life cycle of software projects and the reusable bits of code they generate. He wraps up the book with thoughts on the roles of various managers in software projects.

From the Back Cover

Presents object technology in a plain way, free of hype and technical jargon, and describes in detail how objects affect the software construction process, and what aspects of the business it does not affect. Sets precise expectations as to what a business can and cannot get from the transition to objects. Focuses on the impact of object technology on a corporation. Presents a coherent view of the new software lifecycle, and describes the cluster model, supporting reusability and flexibility. Provides concrete, directly usable information on how best to plan the transition, and what pitfalls to avoid. For managers, it will provide them with hundreds of practical tips on how to use object technology to a company's best advantage.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1 edition (May 12, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131928333
• ISBN-13: 978-0131928336
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,905,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bertrand Meyer is Chief Architect of Eiffel Software (based in California, http://eiffel.com) and Professor of Software Engineering at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

He is the initial designer of the Eiffel method and language and has continued to participate in its evolution. He also directed the development of the EiffelStudio environment, compiler, tools and libraries through their successive versions.

His latest book, Touch of Class: Learning to Program Well, Using Object Technology and Contracts, is based on several years of teaching introductory programming at ETH and is scheduled for publication on August 9, published by Springer Verlag (see Amazon page and Springer page).

Earlier books include "Object-Oriented Software Construction" (a general presentation of object technology, winner of the 1998 Jolt Award); "Eiffel: The Language" (description of the Eiffel language); "Object Success" (a discussion of object technology for managers); "Reusable Software" (a discussion of reuse issues and solutions); "Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages". He has also authored numerous articles (see publication list) and edited or co-edited several dozen conference proceedings, including the 2005 "Verified Software".

Other activities include: chair of the TOOLS conference series (running since 1989, hosted at ETH since 2007, next year session in Malaga, Spain); director of the LASER summer school on software engineering (taking place every year since 2003 in early September in Elba island, Italy); member, and chair since 2009, of the IFIP TC2 committee (Software technology); member of the IFIP Working Group 2.3 on Programming Methodology; member of the French Academy of Technologies. He is also active as a consultant (object-oriented system design, architectural reviews, technology assessment), trainer in object technology and other software topics, and conference speaker. Awards include ACM Software System Award, Fellow of the ACM, Dahl-Nygaard Prize, and honorary doctorate from the Technical University (ITMO) of Saint Petersburg.

Prior to founding Eiffel Software in 1985, Meyer had a 9-year technical and managerial career at EDF, and was for three years on the faculty at the University of California. His experience with object technology through the Simula language, as well as early work on abstract data types and formal specification (including participation in the first versions of the Z specification language) provided some of the background for the development of Eiffel.

At ETH Zurich he pursues research on the construction of high-quality software (see Web site of the Chair of Software Engineering at http://se.ethz.ch).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for managers and for clients., September 27, 1997

By 

William R. Fowler (Eldorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Object Success : A Manager's Guide to Object-Oriented Technology And Its Impact On the Corporation (Object-Oriented Series) (Hardcover)

I now find it is smart business to buy a copy of this book and give it to each prospective client who needs to know why the software industry is on fire on the subject of object-oriented software development. A non-technical manager can read this book and understand object-orientation sometimes better than some of the Techs he or she manages! So a technical manager had better read this book before the boss gets handed a copy by someone else.