Practical Software Maintenance: Best Practices for Managing Your Software Investment [Paperback]

Thomas M. Pigoski (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471170011 | ISBN-13: 978-0471170013 | Publication Date: October 18, 1996 | Edition: 1

The amount of time and expense spent debugging, customizing, updating, and maintaining software far outstrips the amount spent buying it. This book provides a simple and straightforward introduction to software maintenance activities that work. It is the first book to cover software transition--the process of moving the product from developer to maintainer. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on software maintenance, it draws on real world case studies to explore basic do's and don'ts, IEEE and ISO requirements, organizational issues, and the often sticky issue of metrics. Other topics addressed include object-oriented software and client/server software, corporate education and training programs, creative cost controls, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The amount of time and expense spent debugging, customizing, updating, and maintaining software far outstrips the amount spent buying it. This book provides a simple and straightforward introduction to software maintenance activities that work. It is the first book to cover software transition--the process of moving the product from developer to maintainer. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on software maintenance, it draws on real world case studies to explore basic do's and don'ts, IEEE and ISO requirements, organizational issues, and the often sticky issue of metrics. Other topics addressed include object-oriented software and client/server software, corporate education and training programs, creative cost controls, and more.

From the Back Cover

A complete insider's guide to software maintenance strategy

Authored by one of the world's foremost experts on software maintenance, this handy guide to software maintenance translates a great deal of theory into practical guidelines for daily operations. In a book packed with helpful real-world examples, maintenance do's and don'ts, and rules of thumb, Tom Pigoski covers all the bases, including:
* Debugging, updating, customizing, interfacing, and integrating software
* Software maintenance metrics
* Designing for maintainability
* Object-oriented and client/server software maintenance
* The potential impact of the ISO standards
* The hidden costs of creative cost controls
* How to establish a corporate education and training program.

"One of the most detailed treatments of software maintenance currently in print. . . . This book is a worthwhile addition to the library of any software professional who works on the maintenance of existing computer programs --and that means most of us!" --Roger S. Pressman, PhD R. S. Pressman & Associates, Inc.

Visit our Web site at: http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471170011
• ISBN-13: 978-0471170013
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You're in charge of maintaining a large system. Now what?, January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Practical Software Maintenance: Best Practices for Managing Your Software Investment (Paperback)

I bought this book when I was promoted to project leader of a 500 KLOC system which was in its 10th year of maintenance. There was no formal maintenance program in place.

This book gave me the information I needed to get started. It was well written, with many real world examples. I did not have any trouble following it. It starts from the very beginning of the process and builds up. Starting with a description of the three classes of modification request. And ending with suggested modifications for your metrics program due to Object Oriented Technology.

I'd recommend this textbook to anyone who is just starting out in the Software Maintenance field. It has helped me considerably. It would probably be too general for someone already experienced with Software Configuration Management programs and Software Maintainability Metrics.

My only complaint is that it could have used more checklists and a web site.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for process & organizational aspects, October 6, 2002

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practical Software Maintenance: Best Practices for Managing Your Software Investment (Paperback)

What sets this book apart is the fact that is one of the few still in print that addresses software maintenance (the other one of which I am familiar is more focused on maintenance programming as opposed to maintenance as a process and discipline).

The main value is the maintenance-oriented framework that the author provides, which encompasses planning activities, a set of processes and organizational and cost considerations. These are valuable guidelines and will help to clearly define the transition between application delivery and maintenance and support operations within IT. Much of this material is also applicable to product-based organizations that produce commercial software.

I would have liked more information about maintenance metrics that I could have compared to resources I already have, and also would have liked more emphasis on reliability and quality metrics. However, the book is more focused on processes and support, and it shines in those areas. If you are interested in software maintenance from developer's and software engineering viewpoints I recommend "Designing Maintainable Software" by Dennis D. Smith (ISBN 0387987835). For metrics I strongly recommend "Software Metrics: Establishing a Company-wide Program" by Robert B. Grady ISBN 0138218447).

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a definitive reference, January 25, 2002

By 

Dusan Hyks - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practical Software Maintenance: Best Practices for Managing Your Software Investment (Paperback)

This book has a lot of valuable insights in the Maintenance process for the software made with the traditional third-generation programming tools and languages. The book gives especially good practical advises for the transition activities. The chapter that deals with the Maintainability disappointed me. It contains just links to another sources of information without mentioning a single rule about how to evaluate the maintainability of software. The part of the book that concerns the Object Oriented software maintenance is also very poor.

The book shares the common problem with the majority of technical books : redundant inflated text.