Customer Reviews

Software Engineering: Theory and Practice

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Shari Pfleeger knows what she is talking about.

I read this book for a distance learning course and found it entirely possible to grasp the concepts of software engineering, although Pfleeger presents a lot of complex mathematical models and programming examples (as well as many easier models). The book requires some re-reading to fully grasp.

Pfleeger uses a lot of interesting drawings, tables, charts, and diagrams to illustrate concepts. I found this useful in most circumstances.

Pfleeger's writing style is fairly straightforward and I didn't have any difficulty understanding her grammar. There were no syntax errors that I noticed in the book.

The book covers a lot of material including (from the table of contents):
1. the software development life cycle
2. project planning
3. capturing the requirements
4. designing the system
5. object oriented programming concepts
6. writing the programs
7. testing the programs
8. testing the system
9. delivering the system
10. maintaining the system
11. evaluating products, processes and resources
12. improving predictions, products, processes, and resources, and
13. the future of software engineering

The only drawback to this book is perhaps that Pfleeger goes waaaay into detail on EVERYTHING. For some people this is great (including me).

This book is for professionals and for people that are very interested in software engineering (not beginners, or the casual reader) and can wade through a lot of (oftentimes boring) material.

I really enjoyed this book. I had the added benefit of being a student in this author's class. Her book is simple enough reading that an undergraduate can understand it, yet, at the same time it is in-depth enough to be usefull to professionals. There is considerable information on how to analyze and evaluate evidence. The book also benefits from a clear writing style. Thankfully, despite the fact that this book was written in a "user-friendly" manner, the irritating attempts at humor that waste space in otherwise good books was absent in this book.

I liked the book.

I got this book for my PMP CAQ-ITS test. The book is well written, but gets so technical, it turns your mind to jelly in no time. It is the most complete reference on software engineering I have seen in 30 years in the IT profession. It leaves no stone unturned. The bad news it that it leaves no stone unturned. The book incorporates a LOT of best practices that should be followed everywhere (but never are).

I struggled with this book, but I can honestly say that this is the first book I will pick up if I am ever assigned to a software development project.

It is quite complete. The main issues are all there. And it isn't too difficult to follow. But the structure does wobble a bit. It also fails to galvanize the reader. It is a bit of a sleeper since it just presents one technique after the other. No sparkle, inflection nor much motivation. Right now I'm halfway through (chapter 6) and I will finish it, cause the subject matter is all there. But I wish I had another book to choose from.

This book is not worth buying for the following reasons:

1) The book fails to explain the concepts clearly.
2) It is rather confusing and boring; the chapters on important concepts are not clearly laid out. It seems the author hasn't given sufficient thoughts to come up with a better work.
3) The book is full of grammatical mistakes.
4) It total, it is complete waste of money in my view. There are many other good ones out there in the market on Software Engineering.

Thanks,

A Software Professional

If you HAVE to read this book, you'll know what I mean. The first time I read this book, I hated it... Boring, and one reviewer is right, it covers EVERYTHING under the sun about S/E. Now, after about two years or so, I keep finding myself refering to this book over and over again. I am liking more now that I see how and where to use the topics that it talks about. 4 star, b/c this book could have been written better. First time around was very boring.

This book contains basic information and does not really elaborate beyond that premise. It's not bad but if you are looking for more detail and a little more substance, look for a different book. However, I really did not mind it for a start.

The book was in perfect condition as advertised, "like new" perfectly describes it. Everything was excellent, thank you!

when you're exposed to faulty education check out this book! this book will teach you from top to bottom what needs to be done...in theory. Moreover, it has sample cases and lots of procedures written by the authors themselves. For those majoring in Software engineering this is a must have!

Organizes chapters according to a traditional software development sequence: introduction, process and life cycle, planning and managing, requirements, design, implementation, testing, delivery, maintenance, evaluation, and improvements. Includes extensive references to research papers and standard texts. An information system (scheduling television advertising) and real-time system (Ariane-5 rocket) example are threaded through each chapter. Compares effort estimation models including COCOMO II and neural-networks alternatives. Discusses architectural styles and strategies. Includes an excellent chapter on software maintenance and software rejuvenation. Explains system types such as S, P, and E. Analyzes methods for evaluating the results of software engineering research. Presents research on policy trade-offs such as "adjusting the workforce to keep the project on schedule" vs. "extending the schedule as needed." The coverage of specific structured and object-oriented methods is minimized.