Managing a Programming Project - Hardcover

Metzger, Philip W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0135507723 ISBN 13: 9780135507728

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1981

Synopsis

For software programming managers, programmers, and lead technicians. With over 250,000 copies sold in its previous editions, this premier guide to managing software development has been updated in this third edition to account for increases in computer power, the use of software development tools, and object-oriented environments.

About this title

From the Publisher

With over 250,000 copies sold in its previous editions, this premier guide to managing software development has been updated in this third edition to account for increases in computer power, the use of software development tools, and object-oriented environments.

From the Inside Flap

Preface to the Third Edition

The underlying principles of good management have not changed since the first edition of Managing a Programming Project was printed. The practical presentation of those principles in the previous editions has helped a generation of managers. The same principles can be found here as well.

What I have done in this edition is to combine them in a different setting, much like a jeweler who designs a new ring using the stones from an older one. The new setting for the management principles reflects several underlying changes in the environment where software is built.

Computing power has become abundant. As a result, programmers spend their time differently than they used to. The amount of programming and design time that I spent in wrestling with the constraints of the first minicomputer I worked on was not spent again when my software was rewritten to run on a new and much more powerful machine. This abundant power has also given rise to tools that make programmers vastly more productive than they were in the past.

The starting point for todayÕs systems is likely to be an older system, not a manual process. This affects the way customers think about requirements and it also affects the work needed to make sure the transition from the old system to the new one goes smoothly.

Integration is a much bigger part of the job than it used to be. A modern system can bring together programs that run on a personal computer, data that lives on a local area network, and industrial-strength number crunching that happens on a mainframe located half a continent away. All these things must work together to give the customer the result he wants and it's the manager's job to see that they do.

The combined effect of these changes (and others) is that the step-by-step approach that worked well in the past is being overtaken by an approach that has many development processes active at the same time. This newer approach is the basis for the management recipe presented in the third edition. So come on in and sit down. There are some new items on the menu, but our dedication to using only the finest ingredients is as strong as ever. Bon appetit!

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0135507723
• ISBN 13: 9780135507728
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 244