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Design - Build - Run: Applied Practices and Principles for Production Ready Software Development (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) ReviewI'm in agreement with some of the other reviewers on this book that I found it very difficult to get a sense of the purpose of what I was reading. The level of detail, and how much it assumed you already know, varies widely. I don't think one other reviewer was terribly inaccurate when bringing up the idea of this book as a textbook. It's written in a very similar style to what you don't typically see outside of textbooks and technical papers.
The best thing about this book, in my view, is the attitude the author takes toward software development. His consistent message is that quality and being ready for use isn't just about the software itself, but about making sure that the software is appropriate for and will work in the environment that you intend. He does a great job of breaking things down point by point and addresses a huge number of factors.
As I read, however, it was often a little bit difficult to get a real grasp of how to put the material into practice. There are times that he uses actual case studies to talk about what's important and where the focus should be, but much of the time it feels a little bit like I'm being assaulted by bullet points. They're a great tool for breaking up multiple points on a topic in a way that clearly separates them, but they're used so heavily here that it ended up feeling like it was difficult to absorb much of the material.
I think the main problem here is the tension between being a guidebook and being a reference book. It presents itself as a guide book and does provide some useful explanations along those lines, but they then pack information and suggestions in so tightly that it ends up being dragged off in the reference book direction and making the larger themes needlessly difficult to absorb.
I have to say that I also think this book greatly oversells the current potential for creating software that "must not fail". While some companies certainly try, the process of designing flawless software just isn't a solved problem yet if it ever will be. Even with the incredible amount of time and effort put into software for NASA they've still been known to run into problems. In general companies and programming teams are constantly having to weigh decisions on the cost of being certain something will be perfect compared to the risks that it will go wrong if they make a mistake. When talking about "applied practices and principles", I think more attention needs to be spent on how to balance the best possible practices with maintaining a timeline.
I think that this is going to be better as a textbook or reference book for the vast majority of people. I can certainly see someone keeping it on their bookshelf so that it's available to flip to a specific chapter and get some suggestions on how to deal with an issue on a project. For the average person who's interested in improving their understanding of how to go from blank screen to solid software, I think this book is so dense with information that you're more likely to walk away feeling a bit dizzy rather than feeling informed.
Also, for those screen shots and code samples that are included, they tend to focus heavily on Microsoft products. In most cases this makes very little difference, but at times he does make specific reference to Microsoft tools and portions of the interface to the Windows operating system. Your level of familiarity with that environment may affect how easy it is for you to follow the explanations at times. Also, the code samples you get from the book's website is intended to work only with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. It's always disappointing when a publisher of technology books doesn't make it clear in their descriptions what technologies they expect you to have at hand.
I should also add that while this is part of the "Wrox Programmer to Programmer" series, and they say it's suitable for anyone "from programmers through to software architects", I would really recommend it almost exclusively for the software architect end of the spectrum. Programmers who have a particularly strong interest in the architecture may certainly appreciate it, but for a typical programmer there are better sources on this topic out there.
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