Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
by Robert L. Glass · first published 2002
61% recommend35% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
A readable collection of software engineering claims, each with a chapter citing research, such as the large productivity gap between top and average programmers. For developers and managers wanting evidence.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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The article author, Robert Glass, took these from his book, "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering" (ISBN 978-0321117427), which is definitely worth picking up, or in the very least worth skimming the table of contents¹ of. ¹ For example, here: http://blog.codinghorror.com/revisiting-the-facts-and-fallac...
on “Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering (2001) [pdf]” ↗If you want to see how a properly referenced text looks like, pick any of the following: * Code Complete - McConnell * The Economics of Software Quality - Capers Jones * Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering - Robert Glass * Making Software - Oram & Wilson ... and there are many others. Not all references have survived the test of time, L. Bossavit describes in his book " Leprechauns of Software Engineering"…
on “Software Architecture Guide” ↗I like Peopleware, and Larry Constantine's essays Constantine on Peopleware, especially for managers of programmers. But I think Robert Glass's Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering might be a better recommendation for a developer.
on “The industry as a whole makes its choices on the basis of folklore” ↗…development. So I don't think it should be dismissed so cavalierly. I don't have time to track down the original sources on this, but I do remember that one of the places I read about it is in Robert Glass' Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, which is worth reading because it's (a) well-grounded in the research literature, yet (b) not stupendously boring. It's worth noting that the findings in question have to do with rewriting faulty modules…
on “Becoming a Great Programmer: Use Your Trash Can” ↗…by the people who will build the software or by their managers. Therefore, the wrong people are doing estimation. Glass has a book that goes into more depth on these points and has numerous citations (Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, Robert L Glass) and covers a wonderful variety of other topics.
on “Why Software Development Estimations Are Regularly Off” ↗'Implementation Patterns', Kent Beck. A semi-language-agnostic extension of his 'Smalltalk Patterns'for how to clearly and consistently express what you're saying when you code. 'Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering', Robert Glass. Glass presents a list of things everybody knows, or ought to know, and gives both academic and opinionated support and/or critique for why they are and aren't so. 'Making Software',…
on “Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?” ↗…and that the literature basically sucks. It's surprisingly difficult to find hard evidence for the claims people make about software development. The only good, readable source I know is Robert Glass' Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, which systematically cites research, most of which is surprisingly weak.
on “No Silver Programmers” ↗A lot of these come from Glass's excellent book "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering": http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fallacies-Software-Engineering-R... It's quite concise (224 pages), but it's chock full of quite excellent advice. Each one of these points (and many others) is fleshed…
on “Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering” ↗…Why? There have been many studies of this and their findings are consistent. IIRC the numbers range from 5-to-1 to 100-to-1 with the median in the order-of-magnitude range. Pages 14-15 of Robert Glass' Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering cover this topic. http://books.google.com/books?id=3Ntz-UJzZN0C&printsec=f...
on “Programmers and “productivity”” ↗See Fact 2 from Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert Glass. There's a PDF online, but I suspect it's not legit.
on “Steve Jobs claimed the best coders are 100x better than avg. Still true today?” ↗Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering (http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fallacies-Software-Engineering-R...). It may be starting to get a little dated, so it's hard to say that all the referenced research is still applicable in the same way.…
on “Ask HN: What books do you wish your manager would read?” ↗…recommended by a colleague. My perspective is defined by being a developer in circa 100 people company. * The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month * Facts and fallacies of software engineering by Robert L. Glass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Glass * Lessons learned from 25 years of process improvement: The Rise and Fall of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory https://www.cs.umd.edu/users/basili/publications/proceedings...
on “Ask HN: What books do you wish your manager would read?” ↗- The Pragmatic Programmer - Refactoring - Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering - Code Complete
on “Ask HN: Books you should have read when you start a career in SE / CS?” ↗…qualify in my opinion (as examples): - Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition by Steve McConnell https://www.amazon.com/Code-Complete-Practical-Handbook-Cons... - Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert L. Glass https://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fallacies-Software-Engineering-... Learning the different approches taken by multiple programming languages is certainly useful. It may not be that much…
on “Ask HN: How to grow as a software engineering generalist?” ↗…been. * The Devil's DP Dictionary, by Stan Kelly Bootle. A satirical look at the computer industry circa 1980. * The Jargon File. (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/). The language of the Elder Days. * Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert Glass. * The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt & Thomas.
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗