Articles

Building bug-free O-O software: An introduction to Design by Contract - Advanced use of assertions for clearer specifications and greater software reliability. By OO guru Bertrand Meyer, creator of Eiffel.

Classic Mistakes Enumerated - Description of 36 ineffective development practices: people-related, process-related, product-related, technology-related. (Sample chapter from Steve McConnell's book Rapid Development.)

Heavy Rotation - For business software, faster-cheaper can be better too.

High-Pressure Steam Engines and Computer Software - Software safety. Parallels between the early development of high-pressure steam engines and software engineering that we can apply to the use of computers in complex systems. [PDF]

Introducing Demeter and its Laws - Adaptive Programming - specifying the connections between objects as loosely as possible. Makes programs more flexible, more resilient to change, and more adaptable to varying configurations of classes within a given domain

Large Software Systems - Back to Basics - John Evans; Crosstalk, June 2000. The importance of software architecture, and related items such as unambiguous requirements and coding standards.

Lessons Learned -- Current Problems - Technical and managerial best/worst practices. Based on study of US Department of Defense software projects.

Major Causes of Software Project Failures - Lorin J. May; Crosstalk, July 1998. Based on interviews with software consultants and practitioners who were asked to provide "autopsies" of failed projects with which they have been acquainted.

The Many Dimensions of the Software Process - Explores the importance and purpose of software process and quality.

Medical Devices: The Therac-25 - Case study of a well known software error. [PDF]

Nine Steps to Delivering Defect-Free Software - By a software developer and consultant with over 30 years experience.

On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules - One of the classic articles leading to modern software engineering, by D.L. Parnas.

Orphans Preferred - Characteristics of software developers - personality type, demographics, age, education, attitudes.

Principles of Good GUI Design - Describes the basic rules for all good interfaces - the cardinal dos and don'ts.

Seven Principles Of Software Development - Emphasizes "soft" issues - attitude, approach.

Seven Steps to Test Automation Success - This paper presents seven key steps: improve the testing process, define requirements, prove the concept, champion product testability, design for sustainability, plan for deployment, and face the challenges of success.

Successful Engineering Management: 7 Lessons Learned - People management advice for technical people.

Sure It Works, But Is It Beautiful: The Relationship Between Software Aesthetics and Quality - Some aspects of the relationship between quality and aesthetics (beauty) in software, using architecture analogies.

Survival Crib Notes: NASA's Success Checklist - 9 Dos and 8 Don'ts for software project success, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. (Sample chapter from Steve McConnell's book Software Project Survival Guide.)

What Do Users Want? Engineering Usability into Software - User-Centered Design. Simple approaches for delivering smaller, simpler systems that better serve the needs of users.