Professional programming is neither a clear-cut science nor an ineffable art: it's a craft, a craft best learned by guided practice. This book, in my opinion, is an excellent guide. Your present colleagues and those who will maintain your code, will thank you for having read this book and learned its lessons; heck, you will thank yourself when you have to revisit your code a half-year after having written it!
Yes, the examples are in COBOL and FORTRAN and PL/1. I contend that this, in fact, is an _advantage_: the core lessons stand out even better when you're not lulled by familiar syntax. Just as "The Mythical Man-Month" is not a whit less relevant for its age, this text is as relevant now as in 1974; and it will _still_ be relevant when today's New Hotness programming language will be dusty curiosity.
A minor classic, this text excels not in the novelty of its ideas, but in how effectively those ideas are put forth.
As of 2006, Mr. Van Tassel was still teaching programming courses; I emailed him a note of appreciation of this text, and he was courteous enough to reply. :-)
ISBN-13: 978-0137299478
ISBN-10: 0137299478
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Superior explanation of what makes a program clear, modular, performant, maintainable, and testable.
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2016
