Software Engineering Economics (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: improving software productivity, product attributes, computer attributes, Scientific American, Software Life-Cycle Cost Estimation, Product Level Estimates (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Software Engineering Economics is an invaluable guide to determining software costs, applying the fundamental concepts of microeconomics to software engineering, and utilizing economic analysis in software engineering decision making.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 767 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (November 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0138221227
• ISBN-13: 978-0138221225
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,476 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great classic. Needs to be updated for modern practices., May 11, 1998

By	Ted Carroll ([e-mail]) (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This is a great book and should be required reading for anyone who schedules software projects. Some of the data is out of date and readers should look to the website for updates. If this book contained current information it would easily be a 10.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic "must read" - but be aware of its limitations, September 10, 2002

By	Ramon Somoza Garcia "Ramon Somoza" (Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Software Engineering Economics" is *the* book to be considered for anybody wishing to seriously enter the world of software cost estimation - only if it were because of the extremely great influence this book has had on this very peculiar aspect of software engineering. In this aspect, Barry Boehm is undoubtly the master.

HOWEVER, it must be kept in mind that the book itself is somewhat outdated - COCOMO 81, as defined by Barry Boehm, has been overtaken by new technologies and in particular by the surge in PCs & the Internet. The basic model is still valid - I still use it myself - provided you are aware what the background in computing was when it was written, and you carefully assign the adjustment factors.

Barry Boehm himself recognizes that COCOMO 81 is no longer valid - hence his collaboration with COCOMO II, which has addressed many of the problems that affected the old COCOMO 81 (e.g., it was mainly thought for development of software on expensive mainframes, and development tools have greatly evolved since that time). Still, I insist, if you are careful when making your estimations, the model and the techniques presented in this book are very useful and could be applied even on more modern projects.

My second HOWEVER is related to use the model presented in this book for Software Maintenance purposes. Though the book has a chapter on this issue, by opinion is a radical NO-No on this particular issue. COCOMO 81 (as presented in this book) and COCOMO II are adequate for software development purposes. I totally disagree that they are adequate for software Maintenance purposes (though COCOMO II is at least not so very bad). Apart from the fact that it ignores things such as regression testing, or the number of releases to be made during such maintenance, it also ignores the fact that software "degrades" during such maintenance - subsequent modifications introduce more and more stress on the original design, until at a certain moment the software requires a great "overhaul" in order to solve a lot of patchwork that has accumulated over the years. Hence the typical case of having to redesign a complete new software system because maintenance of the old system becomes too expensive.

In any case, if aware of such limitations, I can highly recommend it.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Outdated classic, October 4, 1999

By A Customer

I own a copy and have referenced it numerous times. Perhaps I'm too veteran, but I don't look too often anymore. You may still find this book useful, and it certainly is cited very often, but be warned - it was written in 1981. How much has the software industry changed since then?