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Writing Solid Code (Microsoft Programming Series) 1st Edition

by Steve Maguire (Author)

4.2 46 ratings

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For professional intermediates to advanced C programmers who develop software, here is a focused and practical book based on writing bug-free programs in C. Includes practical solutions to detect mistakes before they become a costly problem.

Amazon.com Review

Any programmer worth their silicon knows that it is wiser to invest time preventing bugs from hatching than to try to exterminate them afterwards. And this is one of the best books for developing a proactive attitude towards electronic entomology. Follow Maguire's advice, and your testers, supervisors and customers will love you. Recommended.

ISBN-10

1556155514
ISBN-13

978-1556155512
Edition

1st
Publisher

Microsoft Press
Publication date

January 1, 1993
Language

English
Dimensions

7.37 x 0.85 x 9.07 inches
Print length

256 pages
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Microsoft Press; 1st edition (January 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1556155514
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1556155512
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.37 x 0.85 x 9.07 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #529,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Computer Programming Debugging
- #675 in Software Development (Books)
- #1,825 in Computer Software (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 46 ratings

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4.2 out of 5

46 global ratings

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Joe

I read it in 2013, and it was awesome

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book is awesome. I think I liked it even more that it was written in 1993 because we got a peek into 1993 Microsoft. I feel that this was the turning point where they were saying "We have to start making our stuff not crash"

I couldn't put the book down. There's so much useful information mixed in with the war stories. Almost every guideline he puts forward is useful today. "This is what happened" and exactly shows the reasons why Microsoft 1993 was so crashy. They did all of their features up-front and encouraged them not to fix them until the end of project. The business saw the finished features and say "Why is the program at this state for so long? By golly, it looks complete, so we should release!"

You also got to read about things he did in DOS, the Macintosh, and the 16-bit to 32-bit transition. That was my favorite part. Microsoft was one of the first companies out there to release Macintosh software

If you are the top 10-25% of programmers, you probably don't need a book like this. Then again, a lot of them would read the book anyways to find out how to be better. The detractors of this book are usually the kind of people that need to read it.

Also, the C code can disorient readers just because of the nature of C code.

I would have paid 300 times more for this book. Okay, I bought it used for $0.07, but still, it was great

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

DragonJam

A true classic going well beyond coding syntax.

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

A must read. You can master coding syntax, but can you write code that is maintainable and less prone to bugs? This book has many good insights into what coding styles work and what don't. One of the best books I've used.

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Roberto Ramirez

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

I'm a Linux software developer that uses the C programming language daily, but even when this book is written by Microsoft guys from a long long time ago, many of the advise and suggestions are still applicable.

2 people found this helpful

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amazonbuyerseller

Must read for all programmers

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2000

Verified Purchase

I also decided to review this book after I saw many negative reviews about it on this site. I will recommend this book to anyone who does software programming for a living. The book is not about any particular programming language, it is about the attitude about programming that every software engineer should have.
The fact that this book gives examples in C or it uses Hungarian notations is completely irrelevant. I think 80% of the software bugs can be avoided with the attitude described in this book.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

rdasxy

Great concepts, good for technical interviews

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2011

Verified Purchase

Very good book to build core concepts for programming in C. Learned a lot of new things about writing secure, 'solid' code.

Helpful

Robert O Alexander

Please ignore previous negative reviews

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2003

I was shocked to see this book get some negative reviews. Those that blasted Microsoft missed the point. This book provides invaluable advice in a quick read. For example, "If you have to look it up, the code is not obvious," or, "If you find yourself designing a function so that it returns an error, stop and ask yourself whether there's any way you can redfined the function to eliminate the error condition." This is the book that convinced me to single-step all my code. The heuristics on proactive bug prevention, which are summarized in the appendix by the way, will save your team time and let you move on to adding features rather than fighting fires.

29 people found this helpful

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Ed G

I ended up returning it.

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

I ended up returning it. I found it superficial.

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James C. Smith

Must have for anyone writing code in C or C++.

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2000

This book is a must have for anyone writing code in C or C++. It explains how to properly use debug code such as asserts and other techniques to write more reliable code. I learned several techniques that I now use every day without ever thinking about it. I shudder when I look at old code I wrote before reading this book. Writing Solid Code is literally required reading in many software engineering departments. Steve also relates several stories about bugs in Excel or other Microsoft products that were caught using these techniques or that would have been caught if the techniques were used. Any C/C++ programmer, no matter how much or how little experience, could benefit from reading this book.

12 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

embedeo

The actual context is outdated, but it gives you valuable thinking directions

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

When I first read the Bulgarian translated edition of this book, back in 1997, I concluded it is very helpful, yet very interesting and so easy to read. Then in 2014, I bought this original 1993 (English) edition, I read it again and I still support my initial impression -- helpful, yet easy to read.
However, since the context, which the book is written for, is outdated, you should not take it as a bunch of recipes, but you should rather take it as a direction of your thinking process. For example, instead of using specific methods for capturing memory leaks described in the book, you should think of using some contemporary measures or something that is already adopted by your management or R&D team. The important point of the book is that you should not miss or ignore the potential source of problems; you should think carefully (and pessimistically) in advance and it will pay off later.
Besides, in the world of embedded systems and plain C programming, the essential teaching of this book is more applicable than in other areas.

2 people found this helpful

Joseph

Simply awesome, its age shows a bit but overall it's really a must read

Reviewed in France on May 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

Indeed, the author speaks of C and takes memory management as an example.

For sure it's pretty C specific and "low level". Yet the advices, the overall feedback and contents fit for any language or developer and really rock. To me the book is better than Clean Code and the others books I've read on the matter.

And if you're writing C, it could still be valid ^^

Antonio Pineda Cabello

First book recommended for those who want to learn techniques in C/C++ development

Reviewed in Germany on March 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

I find this book as a major reading for any developer that is starting working in a company and wants to learn techniques that assure its code over the time.

Fuzzbox

great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

great Some great info here

One person found this helpful

Eddy Young

This book is mostly relevant if you code in C ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book is mostly relevant if you code in C. Having said this, I bought this to get more details about a few citations (from the book) that I read in blog posts.

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