by Robert L Glass
|
| List Price: | $34.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $23.09 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $11.90 (34%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $21.96 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
"This book is written from a powerfully felt, personal perspective: that software construction is primarily a problem-solving activity; that all problem-solving requires creativity; that software problem-solving is deeply complex, perhaps more deeply complex than any other activity; and that, therefore, software problem-solving requires the ultimate in creativity." --Robert L. Glass, from the Preface In Software Creativity 2.0, acclaimed author Robert L. Glass explores a critical, yet strangely neglected, question: What is the role of creativity in software engineering and computer programming? With his trademark easy-to-read style and practical approach, backed by research and personal experience, Glass takes on a wide range of related angles and implications. To name only a few: * Are discipline and formality at odds with flexibility and agility? * When are control-driven vs. experimentation-driven approaches most effective? * Can we "make creativity happen" in a software organization? * Which is more important, process or product? * How do theory and practice interact in the software field? Can practitioners and academe complement each other more effectively? * Is there a missing link between creativity and software design? * What is the balance of "intellectual" and "clerical" tasks in software work? * Can we still find a place for plain old fun? Revised, updated, and expanded, Software Creativity 2.0 also features a new Foreword by Tom DeMarco, author of Peopleware, and a new Preface by author Robert L. Glass.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Philosophy of the minds..., 2008-03-11
It's a quick, but heavy ready. However, this is a great little peak into the psychologies involved in software. It's something I recommend all developers, managers, etc. to read that work in the tech industry.
You may not walk away with any new ideas, but you'll definitely have a better understanding of what's running through people's minds (and that applies for coders, architects and even managers). The topics covered on business vs. academia are priceless in terms of examining the current state of affairs in the tech world.
Pick it up and give it a shot.
If you're writing any papers/essays on topics related to tech, this would also provide a great reference and has many entertaining and potent quotes.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting Discussion But Too High-Level, 2007-08-28
I am very interesting in the discussion of process versus product and standardization versus creativity. I was expecting some more specifics and industry results. Instead, the book ends up by being highly philosophical.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 Rid yourself of guilt, 2007-07-11
Can I give it 10 stars?
I could write volumes about this book, but perhaps the most important thing is that it allowed me to rid myself of guilt about not following rigid software process. In the back of my mind, I always knew that software process as I've learned it is impractical and in many cases infeasible. However, it was taught in school as if it's (obviously) the only way, and therefore I had a lingering guilt about not being able to follow it precisely.
Glass speaks with a thundering voice from the practitioner's perspective exactly what is wrong with rigid software process and creativity-stifling management styles. He also explains the evolution of software process, and makes it very clear that we're no where near a satisfactory solution.
Why should you care what Glass has to say? For one, he's been in the software industry longer than most current software developers have been alive. He's also spent many years in academia, and has excellent insights on what's wrong with that side of the fence as well. But, above all, because what he says is true. Every once in a rare while you read something that rings so loudly that it can be nothing else but true. If you're a frustrated software developer, this is that book.
I applaud Glass for presenting such an honest discussion of the role of creativity in software process and management. I have no doubt he's made a few enemies along the way, but the discipline is certainly the better for it.
In short, if you're in the software field, and care at all about the future of the discipline, go out and get a copy of this book and read it cover to cover. Your career and the discipline as a whole will be the better for it.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Pragmatic Thinking in Software, 2007-06-08
Too often pragmatic concepts in software fall victim to zealot practitioners whose ideology includes panacean promises of one-click programming and ideas that good process guarantees a good product regardless of personnel. Too many people still promote their ideas and methodologies as cure-alls. These people treat software as a franchise with a factory-line assembly and replaceable parts. It is anathema for many to think of software as a creative endeavor. However, this idea that software development lives and breathes with creativity is what software curmudgeon Robert Glass takes on in his sagacious book on software. This book is a newer version of his original 1995 "Software Creativity" which has been unavailable (cheaply) for many years.
This book is divided into four parts. The first part (and I feel the most important of the book) is the exploration of software creativity. Here he takes on nine dichotomous subjects (discipline vs. flexibility, formal methods vs. heuristics, optimizing vs. satisficing, quantitative vs. qualitative, process vs. product, intellectual vs. clerical, theory vs. practice and industry vs. academe, fun vs. serious) and explores the advocates on both sides and tries to find definitive answers (or at least raise more questions).
What I found fascinating about several of these chapters like quantitative vs. qualitative and industry vs. academe is that they can apply to many different industries and not just software. How many times has quantitative reasoning been used in business only to fail miserably in the hands of MBAs? How can academe differ so much from practice (like getting your Juris Doctorate compared to really practicing law)? These chapters are a plethora of interesting ideas that many of these chapters can be discussed at length (imagine the length of the review if we tried) and one fault (that has already been mentioned by several reviewers) is that some of the topics need more discussion.
The second part deals with making creativity happen. I feel this is such a difficult thing to do in large organizations since it involves a paradigm shift in thinking, but it is a must for small companies. The third part deals with creativity in other fields and the fourth is the conclusion. And to give away the ending his thoughts can be summed up as "...is that our one-size-fits-all approach is wrong. No, it is worse than that. It is WRONG!" The one question that remains is how do you change a practitioner's mind that already has all the answers?
I never read the original book; I did not get into Glass's writing until I received as a gift Glass's Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering and became enthralled with his pragmatic point of view. That laconic work got me interested in his writings and when d.* brought out this book I bought it immediately. Software Creativity is not as well known as Frederick Brook Jr's masterpiece "Mythical Man Month" or Edward Yourdon's "Death March" (and many others) but it is such a great read that anyone involved in software can benefit from this book. I am biased though. After years of "software development" I have found it to be a very challenging and rewarding endeavor that does benefit from structured creativity. Apparently Robert Glass feels this way too.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Quick Read, Well Written, 2007-02-19
I was somewhat apprehensive about the book, but I took other reviews on faith and purchased it. I can't say that the ideas are groundbreaking, but glass presents both sides of the argument with a minimum of bias. A long story short, I highly recommend this book.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|