Software Engineering: Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition [Hardcover]

Hans van Vliet (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471975087 | ISBN-13: 978-0471975083 | Publication Date: August 30, 2000 | Edition: 2

Developing software today often involves working on programs that are very large, as a member of a team that will most likely collaborate with other individuals in other disciplines and other teams, and which may interact over several years. Learning the principles and practice of software engineering is as much about understanding this context as it is about specific tools and

techniques.

Software Engineering: Principles and Practice reaches beyond a superficial survey of the discipline, offering the opportunity to weigh up decisions that have to be made in practice. The book has been updated to cover the latest developments such as UML and Software Architecture. Van Vliet informs his reader from a wealth of resources and draws out several important themes:

* that everthing changes and that change is an essential feature of the field

* that human and social aspects are central even in topic areas that sound technical

* that one cannot limit discussion to todays well-established practices but must always look ahead

* that we can learn valuable lessons from the short history of this subject on why techniques or technologies didn't work and why there are no silver bullets

Written for use on a wide variety of software engineering courses and modules, the book is also for people actively involved in software development and maintenance - programmers, analysts, project managers - who want to keep abreast of the problems incurred by large-scale software development, and what solutions have been proposed.

Web support includes:

? Instructors Manual

? Examples

? Interactive Projects

? Hypertext and CASE Tools

? Links to related Web resources

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...novices and those who simply feel unclear about the big picture in software engineering should definitely put an order in for this book straight away" ----Application Development Adviser, December 2000 "interesting and well--written book ...The book is a good candidate for a software engineering course text." ----Computing Reviews, January 2001

From the Publisher

Topics range from the technically challenging formal specifications to managerial issues such as quality and team organization to HCI aspects. The author's approach to the material and organization of the chapters is based on years of teaching experience of the software life cycle itself and all the satellite subjects which make up the practice of developing and working on large scale software projects. As developing software becomes ever increasingly complicated, the practices adjust accordingly. The references given and pointers for further reading are comprehensive. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 748 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (August 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471975087
• ISBN-13: 978-0471975083
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #974,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what i was looking for, March 1, 2006

By 

G. Schimmerling (Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering: Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

Having to teach on a new lab course on Software Engineering, i desperately looked for a book that helps me organize the topics i have to teach. Since i have a programming background , i was not so interested in the implementation part, but wanted to know more on the other aspects of the development : designing,testing,maintaining,assesing quality.This book made me look no further. It is a comprehensive book that covers all these aspects, and the case study that it contains it is not too complicated so it can capture the attention of an average student in a SW undergraduate course. In solving this case study the author does not bind himself to a single solution, but proposes and evaluates different architectures.From an educational point of view it is a good textbook

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good coverage on principles and the of software engineering., March 17, 2000

By 

Frank Lin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering (Hardcover)

This is one of the better academic books I've seen in this area. It has the basic stuff you'd expect, but the author also presents very good discussions on writing software specs. The appendix includes some IEEE standards on software documentation. A good book especially for software professionals and technical managers.

The section on software maintenance is excellent and would be a good (and not-too-technical) resource for product managers, marketing managers, project managers, and those involved with the software maintenance process -- something more complex and difficult than we usually think.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for reference, April 28, 2009

By 

Richard Trinh (Arcadia, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering: Principles and Practice (Paperback)

Software Engineering Principles and Practice by Hans van Vliet is a good textbook which delves into the WHAT of software development, and takes a user through the normal Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) from requirements gathering to deployment in a production environment. And like good software, each chapter is loosely coupled allowing the reader to get more information on the topic of interest.

This book however does not go into details on the HOW, and was left me a little unsatisfied on best practices, and how to improve my skills as a software engineer.

This book is great for students as well as professionals involved in Software Engineering. It gives students an overview of what to expect in a software shop, but is more of a reference book for professionals to give a little further insight into the different aspects of the SDLC.