I have just finished reading "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering", by Robert L. Glass.

Quite a funny book, very easy to read. Highly recommended! Here are some of the facts he mentions and elaborates on:

  • Fact 2 - "The best programmers are up to 28 times better than the worst programmers, according to "individual differences" research. Given that their pay is never commensurate, they are the biggest bargains in the software field."
  • Fact 7 - "Software developers talk a lot about tools. They evaluate quite a few, buy a fair number, and use practically none."
  • Fact 23 - "One of the two most common causes of runaway projects is unstable requirements."
  • Fact 37 - "Rigorous inspections can remove up to 90 percent of errors from a software product before the first test case is run."
  • Fact 45 - "Better software engineering development leads to more maintenance, not less."

And here is a couple of the fallacies:

  • Fallacy 8 - "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."
  • Fallacy 10 - "You teach people how to program by showing them how to write programs."

(...damn, all these books make me more and more sober-minded!..)