The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Simple and thorough, 23 Nov 2006
It's always good to see a text book pitched at exactly the right level. This book is informative, easy to read and well structured. It really makes the user think about testing from many different view points and points out the logical reasons behind structured methodology without telling them how to suck eggs. A variety of real life examples are given throughout and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. It's been extremely useful in the last two weeks and I haven't even finished it yet.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Simple and thorough, 23 Nov 2006
It's always good to see a text book pitched at exactly the right level. This book is informative, easy to read and well structured. It really makes the user think about testing from many different view points and points out the logical reasons behind structured methodology without telling them how to suck eggs. A variety of real life examples are given throughout and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. It's been extremely useful in the last two weeks and I haven't even finished it yet.

THE Prince2 book ..., 01 May 2008
This is the one - if you want to understand Prince2 or take either the foundation or practitioner exams. However be warned most courses will supply this book so if you are looking to take a course and then the exams you'd be better off with the small handheld guide and/or alternative books as this book will be provided as part of the course (please check with your proposed provider!).
Quite a difficult book to read and assimilate but once the concepts have got in your head it is THE reference book. Often used after the course to support specific areas.
Once you've seen others with the book and taken the exams you'll soon understand why everyone's copies have tabs sticking out all over them!
Good luck with your studies...

The definitive Prince2 reference guide, 09 Oct 2007
Although I have not taken either of the Prince2 exams I have used a range of Prince2 techniques in a number of commercial organisations I have worked in. I have found the reality of project governnance in commercial software development organisations is to adopt a pragmatic approach to using methodologies rather than following a prescriptive approach.

This book is therefore the ideal reference guide for use in either government organisations where it is the accepted standard or for managers like me who pick and choose the elements of Prince2 (and other methodologies) that are most appropriate to them in their environments. If you fall into this latter category the appendices are particualrly useful. Whichever category you fall into, this book is laid out with a logical flow that reflects the lifecycle of projects.

Andy Murray, PRINCE2 Consultant, 16 Mar 2007
PRINCE2, or PRojects IN Controlled Environments, is a project management methodology. It covers the management, control and organisation of a project.

PRINCE2(tm) was launched by the UK Government in 1996 and has since become the most widely used project management method worldwide. By the beginning of 2007 there were more than 250,000 certified Project Managers who had sat and passed the PRINCE2(tm) practitioner exam. Practitioners can now be found in all 7 continents (yes, even in Antarctica).

PRINCE2(tm) is now more than a just manual. When people say "we are using PRINCE2(tm)" they don't mean that they are using the manual. They mean that they direct, manage or participate on a project which follows (some of) the processes, components and techniques embodied in the manual. PRINCE2(tm) has become `a way' of delivering projects. It has become a community, comprising:
* The UK Government (it is owned by the Office of Government Commerce - OGC)
* A documented method (the manual, now in its 4th edition), available in several languages
* An accreditation body (APM Group Ltd)
* 120+ accredited training organisations, providing training around the globe in 17 languages
* 15+ accredited consulting organisations
* Software tools (There were 52 tools supporting PRINCE2(tm) listed in the last PM Software Tool sourcebook)
* An official user group (The Best Practice User Group - BPUG) and numerous others covering more than 10 countries
* Several on-line discussion forums dedicated to PRINCE2(tm)
* More than 1.6 million pages on the world-wide-web which reference PRINCE2(tm); much more than any other method.

While the PRINCE2(tm) manual is owned and maintained by the UK Government, several other governments are now recommending its use (for example The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany) and it has been adopted by The United Nations Development Program as part of their global framework for managing projects. Its use extends beyond Governments and institutions as it has been adopted by the private sector with some vigour. PRINCE2(tm) has also moved beyond its IT origin and is used for R&D projects, construction projects, product development projects, marketing projects, business transformation projects and many more.

If you want to use PRINCE2 to manage your projects then this is the essential reference book.

It contains:
* 8 chapters of processes (e.g. directing a project, initiating a project, planning)
* 8 chapters of Components (e.g Organisation, Management of Risk, Business Case)
* 3 chapters of Techniques (e.g. Product Based Planning)
* Appendix A - Product Description outlines
* Appendix B - Project Management Team roles
* Appendix C - Risk Categories
* Appendix D - PRINCE2 healthcheck (a set of checklists)
* Appendix E - Project Document Management

Pass the Prince2 exams, 13 Oct 2006
I rate this book highly because it enabled me to pass the Prince2 Foundation exam. It is comprehensive and authoritative reference manual which can be refered to in the open-book, 'Practitioner' exam. It is a cost-effective confidence-booster to instructer-led training, as long as one has some exposure to Project Management in the work-place.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Simple and thorough, 23 Nov 2006
It's always good to see a text book pitched at exactly the right level. This book is informative, easy to read and well structured. It really makes the user think about testing from many different view points and points out the logical reasons behind structured methodology without telling them how to suck eggs. A variety of real life examples are given throughout and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. It's been extremely useful in the last two weeks and I haven't even finished it yet.

THE Prince2 book ..., 01 May 2008
This is the one - if you want to understand Prince2 or take either the foundation or practitioner exams. However be warned most courses will supply this book so if you are looking to take a course and then the exams you'd be better off with the small handheld guide and/or alternative books as this book will be provided as part of the course (please check with your proposed provider!).
Quite a difficult book to read and assimilate but once the concepts have got in your head it is THE reference book. Often used after the course to support specific areas.
Once you've seen others with the book and taken the exams you'll soon understand why everyone's copies have tabs sticking out all over them!
Good luck with your studies...

The definitive Prince2 reference guide, 09 Oct 2007
Although I have not taken either of the Prince2 exams I have used a range of Prince2 techniques in a number of commercial organisations I have worked in. I have found the reality of project governnance in commercial software development organisations is to adopt a pragmatic approach to using methodologies rather than following a prescriptive approach.

This book is therefore the ideal reference guide for use in either government organisations where it is the accepted standard or for managers like me who pick and choose the elements of Prince2 (and other methodologies) that are most appropriate to them in their environments. If you fall into this latter category the appendices are particualrly useful. Whichever category you fall into, this book is laid out with a logical flow that reflects the lifecycle of projects.

Andy Murray, PRINCE2 Consultant, 16 Mar 2007
PRINCE2, or PRojects IN Controlled Environments, is a project management methodology. It covers the management, control and organisation of a project.

PRINCE2(tm) was launched by the UK Government in 1996 and has since become the most widely used project management method worldwide. By the beginning of 2007 there were more than 250,000 certified Project Managers who had sat and passed the PRINCE2(tm) practitioner exam. Practitioners can now be found in all 7 continents (yes, even in Antarctica).

PRINCE2(tm) is now more than a just manual. When people say "we are using PRINCE2(tm)" they don't mean that they are using the manual. They mean that they direct, manage or participate on a project which follows (some of) the processes, components and techniques embodied in the manual. PRINCE2(tm) has become `a way' of delivering projects. It has become a community, comprising:
* The UK Government (it is owned by the Office of Government Commerce - OGC)
* A documented method (the manual, now in its 4th edition), available in several languages
* An accreditation body (APM Group Ltd)
* 120+ accredited training organisations, providing training around the globe in 17 languages
* 15+ accredited consulting organisations
* Software tools (There were 52 tools supporting PRINCE2(tm) listed in the last PM Software Tool sourcebook)
* An official user group (The Best Practice User Group - BPUG) and numerous others covering more than 10 countries
* Several on-line discussion forums dedicated to PRINCE2(tm)
* More than 1.6 million pages on the world-wide-web which reference PRINCE2(tm); much more than any other method.

While the PRINCE2(tm) manual is owned and maintained by the UK Government, several other governments are now recommending its use (for example The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany) and it has been adopted by The United Nations Development Program as part of their global framework for managing projects. Its use extends beyond Governments and institutions as it has been adopted by the private sector with some vigour. PRINCE2(tm) has also moved beyond its IT origin and is used for R&D projects, construction projects, product development projects, marketing projects, business transformation projects and many more.

If you want to use PRINCE2 to manage your projects then this is the essential reference book.

It contains:
* 8 chapters of processes (e.g. directing a project, initiating a project, planning)
* 8 chapters of Components (e.g Organisation, Management of Risk, Business Case)
* 3 chapters of Techniques (e.g. Product Based Planning)
* Appendix A - Product Description outlines
* Appendix B - Project Management Team roles
* Appendix C - Risk Categories
* Appendix D - PRINCE2 healthcheck (a set of checklists)
* Appendix E - Project Document Management

Pass the Prince2 exams, 13 Oct 2006
I rate this book highly because it enabled me to pass the Prince2 Foundation exam. It is comprehensive and authoritative reference manual which can be refered to in the open-book, 'Practitioner' exam. It is a cost-effective confidence-booster to instructer-led training, as long as one has some exposure to Project Management in the work-place.

A very useful reference guide, 27 Sep 2007
This is a good book for project managers and senior developers who have enough experience to understand that even a practice like agile development needs a framework to work within and a certain number of standard project management controls to be successful.

It deals with some of the practical issues a project manager will face like prioritisation techniques, acceptable levels of functional delivery, inter-dependencies, estimating, padding estimates, monitoring progress, release and iteration planning.

Cohn hasn't written the book specifically around any one methodology (ie SCRUM, XP etc) which is good, as in reality people lift and use ideas from various methodologies. In that respect this book is a good reference guide to dip in and out of, picking the bits that are most appropriate, rather than reading it cover to cover. It is well laid out and easy to read.

As a project manager I am responsible for planning the end-to-end process from requirements through to delivery, therefore I felt that there were some areas that were either not covered in enough depth or omitted altogether:-
* the writing of user stories, and how to plan for their handover to programmers (if produced by a separate individual or team),
* while programmer testing is discussed their is no mention of functional (or acceptance testing) of the produced code,
* scaling up to large (possibly enterprise size) projects is only skimmed over,
* while the estimation techniques discussed can be applied to user story creation and functional/acceptance test creation and execution it is implied rather than explicitly suggested,
* personally I didn't feel that the book addressed the area of changing requirements enough, but maybe that's me.

Being a project manager with more waterfall than agile development experience I might be being overly harsh in these criticisms.

Another great book from Mike Cohn, 15 Nov 2005
If you are doing Agile Software Development or want to, then buy this book. It contains stuff in it that you just won't find any where else. Mike knows his stuff. He's worked on many agile projects and his experience comes through in his writing. I helped review this book and (although I haven't recieved my paper copy yet) I am impressed at how easy it was to read, despite the complexity of the subject.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Simple and thorough, 23 Nov 2006
It's always good to see a text book pitched at exactly the right level. This book is informative, easy to read and well structured. It really makes the user think about testing from many different view points and points out the logical reasons behind structured methodology without telling them how to suck eggs. A variety of real life examples are given throughout and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. It's been extremely useful in the last two weeks and I haven't even finished it yet.

THE Prince2 book ..., 01 May 2008
This is the one - if you want to understand Prince2 or take either the foundation or practitioner exams. However be warned most courses will supply this book so if you are looking to take a course and then the exams you'd be better off with the small handheld guide and/or alternative books as this book will be provided as part of the course (please check with your proposed provider!).
Quite a difficult book to read and assimilate but once the concepts have got in your head it is THE reference book. Often used after the course to support specific areas.
Once you've seen others with the book and taken the exams you'll soon understand why everyone's copies have tabs sticking out all over them!
Good luck with your studies...

The definitive Prince2 reference guide, 09 Oct 2007
Although I have not taken either of the Prince2 exams I have used a range of Prince2 techniques in a number of commercial organisations I have worked in. I have found the reality of project governnance in commercial software development organisations is to adopt a pragmatic approach to using methodologies rather than following a prescriptive approach.

This book is therefore the ideal reference guide for use in either government organisations where it is the accepted standard or for managers like me who pick and choose the elements of Prince2 (and other methodologies) that are most appropriate to them in their environments. If you fall into this latter category the appendices are particualrly useful. Whichever category you fall into, this book is laid out with a logical flow that reflects the lifecycle of projects.

Andy Murray, PRINCE2 Consultant, 16 Mar 2007
PRINCE2, or PRojects IN Controlled Environments, is a project management methodology. It covers the management, control and organisation of a project.

PRINCE2(tm) was launched by the UK Government in 1996 and has since become the most widely used project management method worldwide. By the beginning of 2007 there were more than 250,000 certified Project Managers who had sat and passed the PRINCE2(tm) practitioner exam. Practitioners can now be found in all 7 continents (yes, even in Antarctica).

PRINCE2(tm) is now more than a just manual. When people say "we are using PRINCE2(tm)" they don't mean that they are using the manual. They mean that they direct, manage or participate on a project which follows (some of) the processes, components and techniques embodied in the manual. PRINCE2(tm) has become `a way' of delivering projects. It has become a community, comprising:
* The UK Government (it is owned by the Office of Government Commerce - OGC)
* A documented method (the manual, now in its 4th edition), available in several languages
* An accreditation body (APM Group Ltd)
* 120+ accredited training organisations, providing training around the globe in 17 languages
* 15+ accredited consulting organisations
* Software tools (There were 52 tools supporting PRINCE2(tm) listed in the last PM Software Tool sourcebook)
* An official user group (The Best Practice User Group - BPUG) and numerous others covering more than 10 countries
* Several on-line discussion forums dedicated to PRINCE2(tm)
* More than 1.6 million pages on the world-wide-web which reference PRINCE2(tm); much more than any other method.

While the PRINCE2(tm) manual is owned and maintained by the UK Government, several other governments are now recommending its use (for example The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany) and it has been adopted by The United Nations Development Program as part of their global framework for managing projects. Its use extends beyond Governments and institutions as it has been adopted by the private sector with some vigour. PRINCE2(tm) has also moved beyond its IT origin and is used for R&D projects, construction projects, product development projects, marketing projects, business transformation projects and many more.

If you want to use PRINCE2 to manage your projects then this is the essential reference book.

It contains:
* 8 chapters of processes (e.g. directing a project, initiating a project, planning)
* 8 chapters of Components (e.g Organisation, Management of Risk, Business Case)
* 3 chapters of Techniques (e.g. Product Based Planning)
* Appendix A - Product Description outlines
* Appendix B - Project Management Team roles
* Appendix C - Risk Categories
* Appendix D - PRINCE2 healthcheck (a set of checklists)
* Appendix E - Project Document Management

Pass the Prince2 exams, 13 Oct 2006
I rate this book highly because it enabled me to pass the Prince2 Foundation exam. It is comprehensive and authoritative reference manual which can be refered to in the open-book, 'Practitioner' exam. It is a cost-effective confidence-booster to instructer-led training, as long as one has some exposure to Project Management in the work-place.

A very useful reference guide, 27 Sep 2007
This is a good book for project managers and senior developers who have enough experience to understand that even a practice like agile development needs a framework to work within and a certain number of standard project management controls to be successful.

It deals with some of the practical issues a project manager will face like prioritisation techniques, acceptable levels of functional delivery, inter-dependencies, estimating, padding estimates, monitoring progress, release and iteration planning.

Cohn hasn't written the book specifically around any one methodology (ie SCRUM, XP etc) which is good, as in reality people lift and use ideas from various methodologies. In that respect this book is a good reference guide to dip in and out of, picking the bits that are most appropriate, rather than reading it cover to cover. It is well laid out and easy to read.

As a project manager I am responsible for planning the end-to-end process from requirements through to delivery, therefore I felt that there were some areas that were either not covered in enough depth or omitted altogether:-
* the writing of user stories, and how to plan for their handover to programmers (if produced by a separate individual or team),
* while programmer testing is discussed their is no mention of functional (or acceptance testing) of the produced code,
* scaling up to large (possibly enterprise size) projects is only skimmed over,
* while the estimation techniques discussed can be applied to user story creation and functional/acceptance test creation and execution it is implied rather than explicitly suggested,
* personally I didn't feel that the book addressed the area of changing requirements enough, but maybe that's me.

Being a project manager with more waterfall than agile development experience I might be being overly harsh in these criticisms.

Another great book from Mike Cohn, 15 Nov 2005
If you are doing Agile Software Development or want to, then buy this book. It contains stuff in it that you just won't find any where else. Mike knows his stuff. He's worked on many agile projects and his experience comes through in his writing. I helped review this book and (although I haven't recieved my paper copy yet) I am impressed at how easy it was to read, despite the complexity of the subject.

Brilliant, 07 Feb 2008
I've been a business/systems analyst for about 12 years, and read about 2-3 books a year to keep upto date. I went on a UML course, and this book was recommended by the course tutor.
I think its one of the best UML books I've ever read (and I've read about 20), and indeed one of the best books on analysis I've ever read. What I really like about it is that there are lots and lots of example models, so you're left in no doubt about what the message is and you get to see lots of ways of modelling scenarios.
I will definitely be reading their next book.

The bible for writing high quality software, 09 Sep 2008
Uncle Bob (Robert C. Martin) is a recognized expert in todays world of software development. His books "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices" and "Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C#" should by now be well known by the majority of serious java and C# developers. I read the latter last year, and I was blown away by Uncle Bob's insight into the process of writing software in a manner, that more or less guarantees success for both the customer and the development company.

When "Clean Code" was published I rushed to buy it, and again I am in awe!

This book book hits the nail on why so many software development projects ends up in pain for the developers as the code rots and becomes unmaintainable. Not only are the symptoms cleary described and analyzed, Uncle Bob also provides the remedy. By breaking down the process of cleaning up code into detecting very specific "smells" and heuristics, and by supplying the reader the tools to fix the problems in the software, the reader automatically becomes empowered, inspired and motivated to go and clean up his or her mess.

I strongly believe, that if all developers were to read this book and start living by the rules stated within, life would improve for every single developer, customers would be able to purchase very high quality software products a lot cheaper, and everyone would benefit.

My applause to Uncle Bob - Thank you for this fantastic work of art!

Are people really giving this 5 stars, 25 Sep 2008
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons.

1- The book is written in a style that some people may not like, although this was not a problem for me. What did annoy me was the way they wrote the code bit by bit over many pages filled with a lot of people and pizzas in between. It means you can never use it as a quick reference as you have to search for the final correct piece of code.

2- There are no full code examples. Yes everything presented is in fragments, you will never see a complete piece of programme.

3- It uses Java, which looks like C# to all intents and purposes. But this stops them from displaying full code listings. The code itself is all over the place.

4- The book is definitely bloated with what seems quite a lot of unnecessary explanations and re-explanations.

5- I never felt they gave enough programming scenarios of the advantages of using the patterns, although there was a lot of talk.

Fantastic, 08 Aug 2008
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the effort in but you will learn a lot.

Not just for JAVA, 12 Jun 2008
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest.

This book impressed me by the way it took you through implementations of the design patterns in order to help break the learning curve down into more manageable segments. After reading each chapter I knew exactly how the pattern was applied and understood it fully.

Something that was a real eye opener for me was that from reading this book I could see that design patterns exist EVERYWHERE in the .NET framework. User controls implements the composite pattern, the whole event driven model is based around the observer pattern and I don't know how many times I've been unknowingly using the template pattern!

There really shouldn't be any reason an OO programmer doesn't read this book (even if they are already clued up on their design patterns). It's an easy, fun and enlightening read.

A really enjoyable read, 13 May 2008
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. I have only ever felt this with novels before.

As to the content, I could relate many of the design patterns shown to what I have done or seen in the past, but they also show reasoning and extra detail and insight than what I have noticed myself.

A great read, I'm learning lots. I'm interested to see what the other Head First books are like now.

Very clear, 27 Mar 2008
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. It's not often I read a technical book cover-to-cover.

I didn't like it!, 11 Aug 2008
I am currently studying my Masters in IT, with the speciality of Software Engineering. Since I study online, this is the textbook provided to us as our reference to do our reading. I thought - from the book's title - that I had the perfect book!
With all due respect to the author (Ian Sommerville), I did not like it. It was nicely divided into 3 appropriate sections, but many of its chapters referred to examples and explanations in later (or even previous) chapters. I read alot of "more on this in chapter **" or "the example in figure x.ii" (when we are reading in later chapters). Many of my colleagues also complained about the book. I had to go back and forth between the chapters to understand what is being said (after having read each paragraph a couple of times). That is besides the examples not being too informative. Alot of times, I had to research the topic and examples online. I had read a few online papers by Ian Sommerville, and I believe he could've written the book much better!

It is a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering, 25 Aug 2007
I am a student in the field of software engineering.My teacher rcommended this book for me.And I use it as a dictionary.So it's a very useful book for the person who learns Software Engineering.

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Simple and thorough, 23 Nov 2006
It's always good to see a text book pitched at exactly the right level. This book is informative, easy to read and well structured. It really makes the user think about testing from many different view points and points out the logical reasons behind structured methodology without telling them how to suck eggs. A variety of real life examples are given throughout and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter. It's been extremely useful in the last two weeks and I haven't even finished it yet.

THE Prince2 book ..., 01 May 2008
This is the one - if you want to understand Prince2 or take either the foundation or practitioner exams. However be warned most courses will supply this book so if you are looking to take a course and then the exams you'd be better off with the small handheld guide and/or alternative books as this book will be provided as part of the course (please check with your proposed provider!).
Quite a difficult book to read and assimilate but once the concepts have got in your head it is THE reference book. Often used after the course to support specific areas.
Once you've seen others with the book and taken the exams you'll soon understand why everyone's copies have tabs sticking out all over them!
Good luck with your studies...

The definitive Prince2 reference guide, 09 Oct 2007
Although I have not taken either of the Prince2 exams I have used a range of Prince2 techniques in a number of commercial organisations I have worked in. I have found the reality of project governnance in commercial software development organisations is to adopt a pragmatic approach to using methodologies rather than following a prescriptive approach.

This book is therefore the ideal reference guide for use in either government organisations where it is the accepted standard or for managers like me who pick and choose the elements of Prince2 (and other methodologies) that are most appropriate to them in their environments. If you fall into this latter category the appendices are particualrly useful. Whichever category you fall into, this book is laid out with a logical flow that reflects the lifecycle of projects.

Andy Murray, PRINCE2 Consultant, 16 Mar 2007
PRINCE2, or PRojects IN Controlled Environments, is a project management methodology. It covers the management, control and organisation of a project.

PRINCE2(tm) was launched by the UK Government in 1996 and has since become the most widely used project management method worldwide. By the beginning of 2007 there were more than 250,000 certified Project Managers who had sat and passed the PRINCE2(tm) practitioner exam. Practitioners can now be found in all 7 continents (yes, even in Antarctica).

PRINCE2(tm) is now more than a just manual. When people say "we are using PRINCE2(tm)" they don't mean that they are using the manual. They mean that they direct, manage or participate on a project which follows (some of) the processes, components and techniques embodied in the manual. PRINCE2(tm) has become `a way' of delivering projects. It has become a community, comprising:
* The UK Government (it is owned by the Office of Government Commerce - OGC)
* A documented method (the manual, now in its 4th edition), available in several languages
* An accreditation body (APM Group Ltd)
* 120+ accredited training organisations, providing training around the globe in 17 languages
* 15+ accredited consulting organisations
* Software tools (There were 52 tools supporting PRINCE2(tm) listed in the last PM Software Tool sourcebook)
* An official user group (The Best Practice User Group - BPUG) and numerous others covering more than 10 countries
* Several on-line discussion forums dedicated to PRINCE2(tm)
* More than 1.6 million pages on the world-wide-web which reference PRINCE2(tm); much more than any other method.

While the PRINCE2(tm) manual is owned and maintained by the UK Government, several other governments are now recommending its use (for example The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany) and it has been adopted by The United Nations Development Program as part of their global framework for managing projects. Its use extends beyond Governments and institutions as it has been adopted by the private sector with some vigour. PRINCE2(tm) has also moved beyond its IT origin and is used for R&D projects, construction projects, product development projects, marketing projects, business transformation projects and many more.

If you want to use PRINCE2 to manage your projects then this is the essential reference book.

It contains:
* 8 chapters of processes (e.g. directing a project, initiating a project, planning)
* 8 chapters of Components (e.g Organisation, Management of Risk, Business Case)
* 3 chapters of Techniques (e.g. Product Based Planning)
* Appendix A - Product Description outlines
* Appendix B - Project Management Team roles
* Appendix C - Risk Categories
* Appendix D - PRINCE2 healthcheck (a set of checklists)
* Appendix E - Project Document Management

Pass the Prince2 exams, 13 Oct 2006
I rate this book highly because it enabled me to pass the Prince2 Foundation exam. It is comprehensive and authoritative reference manual which can be refered to in the open-book, 'Practitioner' exam. It is a cost-effective confidence-booster to instructer-led training, as long as one has some exposure to Project Management in the work-place.

A very useful reference guide, 27 Sep 2007
This is a good book for project managers and senior developers who have enough experience to understand that even a practice like agile development needs a framework to work within and a certain number of standard project management controls to be successful.

It deals with some of the practical issues a project manager will face like prioritisation techniques, acceptable levels of functional delivery, inter-dependencies, estimating, padding estimates, monitoring progress, release and iteration planning.

Cohn hasn't written the book specifically around any one methodology (ie SCRUM, XP etc) which is good, as in reality people lift and use ideas from various methodologies. In that respect this book is a good reference guide to dip in and out of, picking the bits that are most appropriate, rather than reading it cover to cover. It is well laid out and easy to read.

As a project manager I am responsible for planning the end-to-end process from requirements through to delivery, therefore I felt that there were some areas that were either not covered in enough depth or omitted altogether:-
* the writing of user stories, and how to plan for their handover to programmers (if produced by a separate individual or team),
* while programmer testing is discussed their is no mention of functional (or acceptance testing) of the produced code,
* scaling up to large (possibly enterprise size) projects is only skimmed over,
* while the estimation techniques discussed can be applied to user story creation and functional/acceptance test creation and execution it is implied rather than explicitly suggested,
* personally I didn't feel that the book addressed the area of changing requirements enough, but maybe that's me.

Being a project manager with more waterfall than agile development experience I might be being overly harsh in these criticisms.

Another great book from Mike Cohn, 15 Nov 2005
If you are doing Agile Software Development or want to, then buy this book. It contains stuff in it that you just won't find any where else. Mike knows his stuff. He's worked on many agile projects and his experience comes through in his writing. I helped review this book and (although I haven't recieved my paper copy yet) I am impressed at how easy it was to read, despite the complexity of the subject.

Brilliant, 07 Feb 2008
I've been a business/systems analyst for about 12 years, and read about 2-3 books a year to keep upto date. I went on a UML course, and this book was recommended by the course tutor.
I think its one of the best UML books I've ever read (and I've read about 20), and indeed one of the best books on analysis I've ever read. What I really like about it is that there are lots and lots of example models, so you're left in no doubt about what the message is and you get to see lots of ways of modelling scenarios.
I will definitely be reading their next book.

One seminal essay. The rest, repetitive and out of date., 29 Jan 2008
For sure the Mythical Man Month was a seminal essay back then. This is worth reading for sure. But the rest of the book is very out of date, and very repetitive. It gets a bit wearing too hearing the old line that hardware has advanced a thousand fold and software hasn't. Er, played any computer games lately?

I'd recommend reading the Mythical Man Month elsewhere if you can find it online and save the time, money, and effort reading the whole book.

Time better spent reading a book on Agile, or XP I would think.

A bit outdated..., 01 Aug 2007
Bought this book on the recommendation of a friend, bought "Debugging the Development Environment" on the recommendation of my boss and would probably recommend neither for todays fluidic environments. Mythical Man Month contains a somewhat outdated view of software development, more suitably apt for an age when only long time development projects for mainframes existed and Web/PC development had not been heard of.

Still relevant in parts to large waterfall based development projects, not helpful with RAD/Extreme and other more modern, small team development methods and probably only a useful read if you are new to project teams and/or have not worked in an IT environment

Orinal text is brilliant, 03 Apr 2007
The 1975 text is genius like essay No Silver Bullets at the end part of the book. At the very final essay is completely different.

At the final pages (207 and onwards) for some reason Mr Brooks felt that he needs to start defending his original text against critics. Fighting with critics is pointless and makes one me only to feel a shamed behalf of Mr Brooks.

The "absolute must read" in software engineering, 29 Aug 2006
I was working for several years in software development, exposed to systems engineering context before reading this book. I think Brooks was so right so long ago that this is "the absolute must read book" on software engineering for anyone interested.

Brooks writes in each chapter about different concerns that affect Software Engineering. The chapters include experiences the author had during his work in IBM back in the 70s. This makes it even more interesting since you actually learn about history of the craft. Note that the main content was written a while ago, but, much of it still applies in today's environment.

This edition includes the original essays and adds new content that comment on the book, the evolution of the field and what the author thinks is still applicable and what not.

As a whole it is very readable and many times fun to read. IMO this is a must read for anyone working in software engineering.

A genuine classic - a truly seminal work, 17 Dec 2004
One of the best books ever written about software development and computing in general.

Yes, it has dated in places but even so it is still very interesting and often incredibly insightful. The title essay (about how throwing additional people at an already late project simply makes it even later) and the essay about Second System Syndrome at particularly good.

It ought to be (but rather sadly is not) a must read for everybody working in IT.