Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

[McDoobie]

Lately I'm really beginning to notice that there is a world of difference 
between "programming" and "Software Engineering". Theres alot more 
thought, design, and patience involved in the latter. Naturally, it seems to 
produce vastly superior software.

The process of Engineering a piece of software is something I'd like to learn
in-depth. The question is, what materials should I invest in which would
give me a good return on that investment?

I've ordered the complete set of "The Art of Programming" books by Donald 
Knuth, and the "Dragon" books by Aho. I'm also spending alot of time over
at the SEI site, reading any articles there I can get my hands on.

What else should I check out?  Any suggestions?  Any advice?

Laters.

McDoobie
chris@dont.spam.me

Re: Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

[M. A. Alves]

> The process of Engineering a piece of software is something I'd like to learn
> in-depth. The question is, what materials should I invest in which would
> give me a good return on that investment?
>
> I've ordered the complete set of "The Art of Programming" books by Donald
> Knuth, and the "Dragon" books by Aho.

These are very fine books, but not of software engineering.

> I'm also spending alot of time over at the SEI site, reading any
> articles there I can get my hands on.

The articles may be too specialised for a beginner.  Start with a software
engineering "textbook" to get an overview of the techniques, _then_ study
one of them in dept (then another, then another... ;-)

The textbook on my shelf is

  Software Engineering : An Engineering Approach / James F. Peters ;
  Witold Pedrycz. -- Wiley, 2000. -- xviii, 702 p. -- (ISBN 0-471-18964-2)

Of course there are others, maybe better ones.

Before buying take a look at a software engineering curriculum, to get a
sense of the different aspects and denotations of the term, and compare
the tables of contents of the books.

For example my book is weak in object-oriented development, altough this
can be an important curricular item.

Good luck.

-- 
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Re: Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

[Ehud Lamm]

McDoobie <chris@dont.spam.me> wrote in message
news:xES27.187216$DG1.31592178@news1.rdc1.mi.home.com...
> I've ordered the complete set of "The Art of Programming" books by Donald
> Knuth, and the "Dragon" books by Aho.

TAOP books are classic computer science books, they are not really about
porgramming, and obviously not about software engineering. In my view most
of the topics they cover are essential prerequisites, but they are not SE
topics.

Do you have a CS background? (Your reading list makes me wonder).

If not, I suggest educating yourself on CS first.

Another thing. Notice that SE is a large subject. It deals for example with
issue of project management, analysis and other issues that are not design.
If you are interested in software design, I think we can give you more
specific recommendations.

Some programming/design books that I usually recommend are list at
http://www.free-conversant.com/ehudlamm/ada/books.html but this is really
not a complete reading list, and is very eclectic.

Good luck,

Ehud Lamm

Re: Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

[Ted Dennison]

In article <xES27.187216$DG1.31592178@news1.rdc1.mi.home.com>, McDoobie says...
>I've ordered the complete set of "The Art of Programming" books by Donald 
>Knuth, and the "Dragon" books by Aho. I'm also spending alot of time over

The "Dragon Book" is a book on compiler construction. While there might be some
SE issues in there, that's not really its purpose.

>What else should I check out?  Any suggestions?  Any advice?

The textbook for my undergrad SE course was "Software Engineering, A
Practitioner's Approach" by Rodger S. Pressman. I'd definitely reccomend it on
the subject. I regularly use the stuff on Cohesion and Coupling to explain good
initial design principles to developers who know how to code, but don't know
what a good design looks like (there are an appalling amount of folks out there
like that). 

---
T.E.D.    homepage   - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html
          home email - mailto:dennison@telepath.com

Re: Learning to Engineer. Where to begin?

[JM]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2001 06:47:57 GMT, "McDoobie" <chris@dont.spam.me>
wrote:

>Lately I'm really beginning to notice that there is a world of difference 
>between "programming" and "Software Engineering". Theres alot more 
>thought, design, and patience involved in the latter. Naturally, it seems to 
>produce vastly superior software.
>
>The process of Engineering a piece of software is something I'd like to learn
>in-depth. The question is, what materials should I invest in which would
>give me a good return on that investment?
>
>I've ordered the complete set of "The Art of Programming" books by Donald 
>Knuth, and the "Dragon" books by Aho. I'm also spending alot of time over
>at the SEI site, reading any articles there I can get my hands on.
>
>What else should I check out?  Any suggestions?  Any advice?
>
>Laters.
>
>McDoobie
>chris@dont.spam.me

My favorite SE type book is "Code Complete", by Steve McConnell. I
would consider this book 'required' reading for software engineers. 

-jason