Customer Reviews

Trustworthy Systems Through Quantitative Software Engineering

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Well, this is certainly a much different type of software engineering textbook than I have seen in the last score of years ☺! I was a reviewer of early editions of Pressman, and a user of every edition since the second one at four different universities. Shooman's classic 20+ years ago is another early data point for a graduate course. The Software Engineering Lectures of Tom DeMarco and Ed Yourdon from 1979 are still shelved six feet away from me, and have been referenced in every undergrad and graduate software engineering related course I have taught since 1984. The same shelves contain Pfleeger, Leach, Lethbridge, Peters, Watts & Humphrey, Sommerville, Thayer and many others within the combined 12 foot lineal span. They obviously are used, but not to the extent of Pressman.

That may be about to be changed! Larry Bernstein's new text states on page 32 ".. none of these [principles of sound organizations] will work unless our profession recognizes the next core element in the evolution of software processes as a fundamental principle. Software trustworthiness is the next major area in which academic and industry must focus -- both for national security reasons as well as to ensure that the U.S. software industry maintains its leadership. The three attributes of software reliability, security and safety comprise trustworthiness."

I totally agree with the belief about where we should focus our attention in coming years, but not for the reasons that Larry cites. Let me explain:
* Having worked as a software/knowledge engineer on the Space Shuttle program for Rockwell International for four years, including the maiden flight of Discovery within a few months of my hire date in 1984, I am a very firm believer that the trustworthiness of the software in the shuttle and all the support effort was a gold standard at the time. I was also a full-time professor of CS concurrently, so could bring such issues to all of my classes. Although I have given up my dream of going to the moon, hatched when my small team of high school students fired off rockets in a farmer's field prior to Sputnik, I still hope to make it to the international space station, so a trustworthy system is not only of academic interest! In the last 20+ years, the ubiquity of computing, particularly embedded systems in all modes of transportation, makes such a standard a MUST, not just "nice to have" in our cars, trucks, planes, etc. When a team of Ford software engineers showed up in my office 10+ years ago, asking for help in developing safe software systems for next generation side impact sensors, I could not brush off their concerns! Obviously, software systems pervade the lives of many of the 6.6 billion people residing on this planet today, not just the billion or so who access the Internet. It is irresponsible, not to mention a direct violation of codes of ethics for computing and software engineering, NOT to develop such trustworthy systems.
* I cannot agree with Larry's rationale about the leadership of the U.S. in software. Trustworthiness of software systems knows no national boundaries! Other engineering artifacts do not know such artificial boundaries - do we want the bridges and high rise buildings of Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, Africa, etc. to be less safe, reliable and secure than those in the United States? I think not, if for not other reason than millions of our citizens travel to and live in those countries every day. Clearly, the lives of people across the world are just as valuable as those fortunate enough to live in our 50 states. The state-of-the-art in engineering methods is being advanced on a world-wide basis - why should we think software engineering education is somehow an exception? I would hope that this new text would be published in many languages and used by students and practitioners worldwide. I had first met Professor Bernstein on November 30, 2000 during my sabbatical to set up an International Software Engineering University Consortium (www.iseuc.org). So Larry clearly knows of my penchant for the world-wide importance of software engineering ☺!

Why do I think this new text is different from earlier ones and would recommend strongly that all current faculty and practitioners consider it carefully, especially for an introduction? The rationale includes the following. The text:
1. Focuses on the increasingly vital role that trustworthy software systems will play in the lives of current and future generations. Consequently, it is quite easy to engage or "hook" students in an introductory software engineering course about the importance of the topic - they see the impact of the lack of such systems on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Many of them will be able to share personal and professional experiences. The marvelous column by Neumann in every copy of ACM's SIGSOFT Software Engineering News provides ample examples, in any case.
2. Is cleverly written with excellent and realistic case studies with real questions and answers
3. Draws on the demonstrated expertise of the primary author when he was the CTO for Bell Labs
4. Truly demonstrates the rationale for the role of quantitative software engineering methods throughout the development life-cycle, beginning on page 4!
Reliabilty = e-k?t, where k is a normalizing constant, ? is complexity/(effectiveness x
staffing) and t is the time the software executes from its launch.
5. Emphasizes the "why" as well as the "how"
6. Includes excerpts from student teams related to the growing use of Real Projects for Real Client Courses - RPRCC-in software engineering and other courses
7. Covers most of the topics in a traditionally-structured software engineering text, but does so in a more contemporary and intuitive way. Some of the topics in other texts that wind up at the end, hence often not covered, are main-line chapters in the Bernstein text*. The newest edition of Sommerville's text does indeed have a 20-page chapter 3 on "Critical Systems" and a complete 120 page Part 4 on the same topic, but this is certainly an anomaly among current texts. The Bernstein text emphasizes trustworthiness as a continuing theme throughout, with the continual use of quantitative measures - witness the large number of "Magic Number" boxes for empirical results and heuristics contained in virtually each chapter. I admit that there would be a "learning curve" for most of us, but hey, aren't we supposed to be paragons for "life-long learning" that we espouse for our students?
8. Has fewer pages than virtually every other text. This is a real advantage. Students (and faculty) feel they have a "prayer" of being able to use the material in one course!
9. Has nice on-line support site.
10. And, finally, Larry will go to great personal lengths to support his text ☺!

A couple of possible sources of improvement for the second edition would include the following:
1. Include Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) as a major component when designing critical systems. This is a common engineering tool that was used in the design and testing of the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) over the last 30 years.
2. How can the vital concept covered in the text be applied to the massive task of rendering trustworthy the extant base of millions of software systems? The text does a superb job for developing such systems, but can trustworthiness be "bolted on" existing systems? I doubt it, but cannot see an easy answer here.
3. A friendlier website for both instructors and students would be helpful, ala those for other software engineering textbooks

*Topics in the text
Part I. Getting Started
1. Think Like an Engineer - Especially for Software
2. People, Product, Process, Project - The Big Four

Part II. Ethics and Professionalism
3. Software Requirements
4. Prototyping
5. Architecture
6. Estimation, Planning, and Investment
7. Design for Trustworthiness

Part III. Taking the Measure of the System
8. Identifying and Managing Risk
9. Human Factors in Software Engineering
10. Implementation Details
11. Testing and Configuration Management
12. The Final Project: By Students, For Students

The most commendable single aspect of this book is the extensive set of real case studies. The main author (Bernstein) comes from decades in high tech industry and this permeates the entire book. The book is extremely broad in scope too, so the prospective reader or student gets a tour of a vast array of related subjects. The quantitative basis for the entire book constantly reminds the reader of the usefulness of a quantitative approach to all sorts of aspects of software engineering. Prospective buyers can dive in to the text at Amazon and make up their own mind about the usefulness for their own purposes. Take a look!

This book does a great job of covering the key tools and techniques used in the development of software systems. It is very readable, and is suitable as a course text or an informative reference guide for practicing programmers and managers. A wealth of case study material provides insights into how to develop reliable software, on time and within budget. Sprinkled throughout are pragmatic rules of thumb and metrics. A good read and a good addition to any reference collection!

This book is about to deliver trustworthy systems through quantitative software engineering methodologies, which is unfortunately rare to be implemented well in the real world. As far as I can tell, all aspects and concerns in software development have been covered and provided with solutions and even real-life examples. The concepts of simplification, trustworthiness, risk assessment, and architecture are stressed.

It is fun to read. Each aspect is clearly stated with background, objectives and how to achieve or avoid it. This book is well illustrated with graphs, charts and examples. Quantitative aspects are always easy to be mentioned but hard to be understood and implemented. Following this book, either developers or managers can analyze the project methodically throughout the full life-cycle of the software development to help to improve the system and project performance, especially, as emphasized in this book, at the planning and designing phase.

This book is as well designed as it is well written. If there is anything that I think the author missed a bit, it would be the "Magic Numbers", which is a writing trick for making important things stand out, by giving it a "name" and putting it in a box. This is effective but when the quantity of "Magic Numbers" gets accumulated, it makes it hard to find the ones that reader needs. However, this is only a minor issue.

This book is written as a textbook. It is well suited for senior design semesters, as being used at Stevens Institute of Technology, for computer major students to gain experiences with teamwork skills, learn to tradeoff and communicate with other team members, learn to face conflicts and search for solutions. Most importantly, learn to find the good software engineering practice for their own project through quantitative analysis, which is provided in this book. It is also good for experienced software professionals and managers who's trying to understand software engineering technologies. I would very much recommend this book to everyone who is interested in Software Engineering.

Trustworthiness in software is what we all want but it is hard to figure out how to get it. This textbook tackles the issue head on - looking at the entire software development process, and showing how quantitative software engineering --- with a clear focus on the concept of trustworthiness - is the answer.

There are many texts on software engineering, but this is one of the most readable and quantitative ones I've seen. I highly recommend it as a text book for systems and software engineering programs. It has theory, experience, examples, case studies, and problems, making it a perfect companion for a Senior Project Course or as a text for a Software Engineering Overview Course. For practioners, it contains the pragmatic keys to data-based decisions, order and repeated successes in the chaotic and challenging world of software development projects.

This book is a must read for every professional having responsibility for some aspect of a software development project.

It presents the tools and techniques necessary to develop software systems on time and within budget, using quantitative, well-defined techniques. These quantitative techniques are clearly described in the text.

The information and insight that the authors "Magic Numbers" give us is worth the price of the book! "Magic Numbers" are rules of thumb (developed from analysis of many past software projects) that give numerical insight to many phases of the software development project.

An additional important element is the discussion of ethical behavior in a variety of situations.

The case studies presented serve as real life examples of the pressures and problems that can plague a software project. The several projects discussed with which I have first hand knowledge are perceptively and accurately portrayed.

The writing is clear, to the point and engaging.

This is the book I wish I had at the beginning of my career in software development. I feel it belongs in the library of all software professionals and students alike.

I love this book!

Before being assigned this book I had previously taken a class on Quantitative Software Engineering. For this reason I wasn't expecting to get much out of it, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The book gives a solid overview of concepts which are needed to survive in the software engineering industry. Details are discussed, but not beaten to death as they are in other books I've read. This book will discuss a concept, give you a good understanding of it, and leave you knowing what models/terms to study if you ever need to return to a concept in depth. Every few sections real world cases are reviewed, which helps solidify concepts.

This book isn't oversized either, so you can actually carry it around in a bag and read it during a commute. I would definitely recommend this for anyone entering the software industry, or anyone who is going to be doing business with people in the software industry - as it will give you a feeling for how things work.