Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition: McConnell, Steve: 0790145196705: Amazon.com: Books

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Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, Steve McConnell’s original code complete has been helping developers write better software for more than a decade. Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices—and hundreds of new code samples—illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking—and help you build the highest quality code.

Discover the timeless techniques and strategies that help you:

Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity
Reap the benefits of collaborative development
Apply defensive programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors
Exploit opportunities to refactor—or evolve—code, and do it safely
Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project
Debug problems quickly and effectively
Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly
Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project .

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Customers find the book provides useful advice for developers of all skill levels. They find the text easy to read and understand, with clear examples and instructions. The book covers a wide range of software development topics, from design to testing. Many consider it an excellent investment for their careers. However, some customers feel the content is dated.

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168 customers mention "Advice"146 positive22 negative

Customers find the book helpful for developers of all skill levels. They appreciate the clear, concise explanations and expert guidance. The book teaches readers how to develop high-quality code and manage an effective software development process. It serves as a good reference and reminder of non-obvious aspects.

"...In it, there are frequent references to scientific studies that support the advice given in the book. For example, how long should variable names be?..." Read more

"...But it absolutely helps give more confidence when constructing software, when giving code reviews, and when forming a culture of good habits on your..." Read more

"...Covering everything from design principles to debugging, it’s packed with practical advice for developers at any level...." Read more

"...readable encyclopedia of best practices on software quality, covering topics such as how to build classes, use data and control structures, debug,..." Read more

145 customers mention "Readability"130 positive15 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and understand. They appreciate the clear examples and instructions, which are practical. The book is well-organized and highly regarded by readers.

"...good to put even a one-line calculation in a routine - the code becomes more readable, and small operations tend to turn into larger operations...." Read more

"...Even though Code Complete is arguably the most recommended programming book in the industry, I get the sense it is underappreciated by most folks..." Read more

"...of software construction, it is objective and scientific, it is well-written and well-organized and it carries a lot of weight in the software..." Read more

"Steve McConnell’s Code Complete is a timeless guide to writing clean, maintainable, and efficient code...." Read more

27 customers mention "Use"23 positive4 negative

Customers find the book useful and practical for coding. They say it contains helpful information about software creation, architecture, debugging, and performance-style trade-offs. The book is considered an essential resource and good to have at the workplace.

"...For me, this works really well. It is both useful and makes the text easier to read. In general, the book is very well laid out...." Read more

"...Overall, the advice in this book is clear, practical and good...." Read more

"...clear loops, refactoring, debugging and being practical on trade-offs of performance and style (a short debate on GOTO is talked about here) during..." Read more

"...Very complete and excellent for that purpose. It was written a while ago, so it needs to be updated...." Read more

12 customers mention "Design"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's design clear and easy to understand. They say it provides a good framework for starting a team and is in good condition. The code is written in an understandable style.

"...In general, the book is very well laid out...." Read more

"...Steve writes in a very clean style. It's very easy to read...." Read more

"...Almost all of the coding advice, design strategies, and debugging techniques are backed up with real research data...." Read more

"...that help developers to organize and write code in a clear and understandable style, making it easier to read and modify...." Read more

9 customers mention "Value for money"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book offers good value for money. They say it's well worth the cost and a great career investment.

"...800 pages, it is a long read and arduous at times, but in the end well worth it and the best parts are wonderful." Read more

"...know most of what this books covers (like I knew), it is still very profitable, because it formalise most of your programming knowledge...." Read more

"...The book's price is a pittance compared to the ROI that you will gain after reading it in its entirety...." Read more

"...But, truly, purchasing this book will not waste your money at all! Very good coverage on how to do good software construction, from very beginning...." Read more

6 customers mention "Coverage"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book covers a wide range of aspects in software development, from design to testing. They say it's comprehensive and helpful for finding the areas they need.

"...This book is simply an incredibly broad and diverse collection of every tip and practice that good programmers should have...." Read more

"...The electronic (Kindle) version was helpful to find the areas where it is." Read more

"This book covers a very wide band of the planning and construction phase of software...." Read more

"...Very good coverage on how to do good software construction, from very beginning...." Read more

7 customers mention "Code quality"4 positive3 negative

Customers have different views on the code quality. Some find it detailed, with coding, debugging, integration, and use of pseudocode. Others say the code is hard to understand and could be improved. There are mixed opinions on whether the book covers.NET or classic C code examples.

"...Introduce an intermediate understandable abstraction, and Avoid duplicate code (there are 6 more valid reasons in this chapter)...." Read more

"...or class may be hard to debug in the future or that the code is hard to understand...." Read more

"...“construction” of software which primarily includes detailed design, coding, debugging, integration and developer testing...." Read more

"...If there is one criticism it would be that he could include more code examples." Read more

5 customers mention "Dated content"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the content outdated. They mention some of the data is old and the methodologies are outdated.

"...The concepts are still valid I think, but some of the data is pretty old. a few memorable quotes:..." Read more

"...It was however, a rather tedious read if I'm to be honest. It's a bit dated and though it's aged fairly well it's simply a very big book making it..." Read more

"...have looked at the copyright before I bought because it is just getting a bit dated." Read more

"Outdated in terms of methodologies. The rest is fine." Read more

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Henrik Warne
A must-read for every programmer
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2010
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The focus of Code Complete is software construction, i.e. the coding part of software development. As Steve McConnell notes in the preface, "construction is the only activity that is guaranteed to be done". You can skip almost any step (requirements, testing etc), but if you don't write any code there is not going to be any software.

I bought my copy of the first edition of Code Complete in 1997, and I was immediately fascinated. I had never read anything like it before - a book that concentrated on the actual writing of the code. For example, it had a whole chapter on if- and case-statements, and another chapter on the naming of variables. I had no idea there was so much to learn about these seemingly straight forward activities. It was immediately useful to me, and I started to apply as much as I could of what I learnt from it.

Although it concentrated on coding, it covered a broad spectrum of activities around coding, from requirements and design to testing, debugging and optimization. It also had a great reference section with suggestions of further reading in the area of software engineering. This became my starting point for finding lots of other good books to read, like Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Second Edition) and Programming Pearls (2nd Edition).

So this summer I decided to re-read this seminal book, partly to see what's new in the second edition, and partly to see if still think it is such a great book.

To answer my own question - yes, it is still the number one book on writing code. It is near encyclopaedic in its coverage of the nuts and bolts of programming. There are chapters on the naming of variables, on organizing straight-line code, on conditionals, on loops, on lay-out, on good commenting and on how to write good methods.

In it, there are frequent references to scientific studies that support the advice given in the book. For example, how long should variable names be? Instead of just giving us his opinion, McConnell summarized the findings of several scientific studies on the subject.

Each time there is reference to a study, there is a little "hard data" symbol in the margin. There are other symbols in the margin as well, "Coding Horror" for code examples of what not to do, and "Key Point" for, well, key points. The margin is also used for cross references to other chapters, and for quotes related to the subject discussed. For me, this works really well. It is both useful and makes the text easier to read. In general, the book is very well laid out.

Some of my favourite advice from the book (all of which I remember from reading the first edition) are:

Chapter 7.1 Valid Reasons to Create a Routine - for example: Reduce complexity, Introduce an intermediate understandable abstraction, and Avoid duplicate code (there are 6 more valid reasons in this chapter). The second part of the chapter is called Operations That Seem Too Simple to Put Into Routines and contains a great example of why it can be good to put even a one-line calculation in a routine - the code becomes more readable, and small operations tend to turn into larger operations.

Page 172 (and 264 for variables) Use opposites precisely. When naming "opposite" methods and variables, be careful to use the correct pairs, like add/remove, begin/end, create/destroy etc. This makes the relationship between them clear and obvious.

Page 433 Break complicated tests into partial tests with new boolean variables. This is such a simple thing, but it makes the code a lot more readable.

Page 754 "Make the incompleteness of a statement obvi". For example, when breaking up a logical and over two lines, end the first line with && - that way, it is clear that the statement continues on the next line.

Even though the book truly is great, there are a few things to complain about. In the first edition, the chapters on layout and comments came right after the chapters on the different control structures. But in the second edition, these two chapters have been moved further back. To me, that doesn't make sense, since they too are related to how you actually write your code. Now there are chapters on testing, debugging, optimization and refactoring in between.

And talking about refactoring: while this is an important subject, I don't feel the chapter on refactoring is particularly good. This chapter is new in the second edition. The summary of refactoring is OK, but a good part of the chapter consists of just listing different kinds of refactorings.

Overall though, the second edition is a nice face lift. The code examples are now mostly in Java, C++ or Visual Basic (in the first edition they were in Pascal, C or Ada). But since all the major themes of the book were already present in the first edition, it does not make a big difference if you happen to read the first edition instead of the second edition.

Code Complete is thick - 862 pages (not counting the bibliography and index). If that feels like a lot to read, then I suggest you start by just reading one or two chapters, for example "Using Conditionals" or "Layout and Style". They (and pretty much any chapter in the book) can easily be read without first reading the preceding chapters, and these will give you a sense of what you can expect from the other chapters. Even if these are all you read, you will still get a lot of value from the book.

However, if you are a programmer and care about how you write code, you owe it to yourself to read the whole book. It is considered by many (including me) to be the best book available on programming, and it will almost certainly make you a better programmer. Highly recommended.

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Bo Bilos Dad
Recommended for *nix Programmers as well
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
I finally decided to invest the time in reading Code Complete after hearing well-spoken computer scientist Greg Wilson sing its praises on a Ruby Rogues podcast episode. Greg felt this book should be the core textbook in every undergraduate CS program although he will buy you a beer if you can find it in one. Greg says that Steve McConnell has practically memorized every significant industry paper written in the last 30 years. That knowledge shows in this book and its an especially great read for those who want hard data to back up claims.

Even though Code Complete is arguably the most recommended programming book in the industry, I get the sense it is underappreciated by most folks who work in my ecosystem (open source/ruby/linux/etc). Whether that is true or not, here are a few reasons why I think it may be the case:

1.) "It is a Microsoft book and uses Visual Basic in some of the examples." Well, after reading the book cover to cover, I don't feel either of these were a problem. McConnell makes the conscious choice of using multiple programming languages throughout the book under the rationale that a good software craftsman should be comfortable parsing somewhat unfamiliar syntax. He even points out an instance or two where he feels a VB implementation decision is superior to what is found in most programming languages. Don't get me wrong, nobody is saying VB is a great language, but to write off the book because of the connection would be foolish.

2.) "Its a book about things I already know. I found a bullet point summary online and didn't have any 'aha' moments". My response to that is this: While I can't point to any particular section that will be mind blowing for most developers, I found myself transformed into a much better programmer while I was reading this book. Furthermore, in 2012 Sandi Metz released a book that has become an undisputed classic in the Ruby community. It turns out that a lot of the good OO design practices taught in her book appeared in Code Complete many years earlier in language-agnostic form.

3.) "Its almost 900 pages". I admit--the length of the book is a drawback. However, when you examine the contents, it is clear that McConnell is attempting to cover more ground in a single book than anyone before or since. It is also pleasant reading--not light reading by any means, but its not stereotypical textbook reading.

Something I did not know about this book in advance is that it is an excellent gateway book for the software engineering classics. What do I mean by that? Anyone who has done research on widely recommended software books knows that the list of classics is long and intimidating. Code Complete is the only book I've seen that incorporates ideas from dozens of classic works. There is an entire chapter based around Martin Fowler's Refactoring. The Mythical Man Month and The Pragmatic Programmer are quoted throughout. McConnell ends the book with a software developer reading plan that includes him giving a great testimonial for Programming Pearls. There are also references to Effective C++, Peopleware, and Kent Beck's TDD just to name a few more.

Finally, to show I'm not a total fanboy, I'll list a few things that were a little disappointing.

1.) McConnell dismisses functional programming pretty early on in the book. He believes in avoiding recursion unless its going to save you a massive amount of coding. While I wasn't expecting functional programming to be a core value in the book, I think it looks bad 11 years later that it was waved off as inconsequential. And for those who are wondering, no, SICP did not get a shout out.

2.) Going back to the Microsoft connection, I feel as if the words "open source" were tiptoed around. To his credit, McConnell does recommend SourceForge as a place to look at production code that is likely well-written. However, the way it was presented felt as if he was walking through a landmine and trying not to set a suit on fire.

3.) Similarly, the value of Unix tools felt downplayed. The tooling chapter felt it was more appropriate to describe tools anonymously because tools change over time. While there is definitely some truth to that, it felt a bit like a way to justify confining Unix tools to a paragraph.

In summary, I would recommend this book to programmers at any level. Its one heck of an education for around $30 and deserves its reputation as a classic. When you finish, you will feel as if you completed a long apprenticeship with a master.

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Rsm
Unparalleled
Reviewed in Brazil on June 21, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book is an awesome reading dor anyone serious about software development.

It may take a while to master its content but totally worth the time and price.

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Ananth venkatesan
Code complete 2nd edition
Reviewed in India on August 10, 2024
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very good book

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lollollol
cool
Reviewed in Italy on May 7, 2024
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teaches how do u write beautiful and cool
code fr

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José Huerta Ibarra
A este libro le llaman "La Biblia del cómputo"
Reviewed in Mexico on April 9, 2021
Verified Purchase
Es un libro de consulta para resolver cualquier problema que tenga el programador en la elaboración de programas complejos. Siempre surgen dudas sobre como realizar algunas tareas de diferente dificultad. Code Complete es un recurso de indudable utilidad, pues no solo orienta al programador sobre cómo solucionar determinado problema sino que señala cual es el contexto, la estructura general que subyace en la programación. Indudablemente es un libro que debe formar parte de la biblioteca de todo programador.

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Sébastien Wilmet
Un des livres qui m'a été le plus utile en programmation
Reviewed in France on December 27, 2018
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Après avoir appris un langage de programmation et pratiqué quelques années, je recommande chaudement de lire Code Complete. Ce livre a totalement changé la façon dont je programme, je fais maintenant beaucoup plus attention à la qualité du code, pour que le code soit facilement compréhensible. Avec comme résultat qu'il y a beaucoup moins de bugs dès le départ, et un code qui est maintenable à plus long terme, plus facile à modifier, etc.

Ce livre est très complet sur les bonnes pratiques en programmation (pour la partie « construction »), et inclut également des chapitres sur les détails à petite échelle dans le code comme le nom des variables, le nom des fonctions, organiser une suite d'instructions, les bonnes pratiques pour les conditions et les boucles, etc etc. D'autres livres sur les bonnes pratiques en programmation ne vont pas aussi loin dans ces détails, pourtant c'est tout aussi important pour la compréhension du code et éviter des bugs.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for every programmer

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for *nix Programmers as well

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Unparalleled

5.0 out of 5 stars Code complete 2nd edition

5.0 out of 5 stars cool

5.0 out of 5 stars A este libro le llaman "La Biblia del cómputo"

5.0 out of 5 stars Un des livres qui m'a été le plus utile en programmation

A must-read for every programmer

Recommended for *nix Programmers as well

Unparalleled

Code complete 2nd edition

cool

A este libro le llaman "La Biblia del cómputo"

Un des livres qui m'a été le plus utile en programmation