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Books for learning how to write "big" programs

Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.

Most of the code I have written and books that I have read deal with
toy programs and I am looking for something a bit more
comprehensive. For example, maybe a complete compiler written in C++
for some language, or a complete web server or implementing
..net libraries in some language (just a few examples of the scale of
things I am interested in learning).

Thanks!
Duli.
Jun 27 '08 #1
27 4165
duli wrote:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.
[..]
I think you're asking in wrong newsgroups. We deal with languages, not
processes of developing large systems. Try 'comp.software-eng'. I am
not saying that members of this newsgroup can't recommend books on that
subject or don't know about the processes involved. I am just saying
that a discussion on issues and solutions are *not* language-specific
and thus belong elsewhere.

V
--
Please remove capital 'A's when replying by e-mail
I do not respond to top-posted replies, please don't ask
Jun 27 '08 #2
duli wrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.

Most of the code I have written and books that I have read deal with
toy programs and I am looking for something a bit more
comprehensive. For example, maybe a complete compiler written in C++
for some language, or a complete web server or implementing
.net libraries in some language (just a few examples of the scale of
things I am interested in learning).

Thanks!
Duli.

Hmm I think it has not so much to do with the programming language or
the complexity itself. Might be a good thing to look for stuff like
project management, Release Management and Software Life Cycle.

A good starting point might be this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwar...opment_process

In my opinion, bigger projects are like smaller projects excepts you
have about 90% overhead on documentation before you even write a single
line of code, of course you can try without but that usually ends in
failure of the project.

--
mph
Jun 27 '08 #3
On May 22, 10:55*am, duli <dulipi...@gmail.comwrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.

Most of the code I have written and books that I have read deal with
toy programs and I am looking for something a bit more
comprehensive. *For example, maybe a complete compiler written in C++
for some language, or a complete web server or implementing
.net libraries in some language (just a few examples of the scale of
things I am interested in learning).

Thanks!
Duli.
The "Programming Python 3rd Ed." by Lutz has a fairly extensive email
program both as a CLI and a GUI (Tkinter) program. He has various
other real programs too, but they're much smaller.

Other than that, I'd recommend joining a project programmed in Python.
Search SoureForge for them...

Mike
Jun 27 '08 #4
Martin P. Hellwig wrote:
>
In my opinion, bigger projects are like smaller projects excepts you
have about 90% overhead on documentation before you even write a single
line of code, of course you can try without but that usually ends in
failure of the project.
I though it was the over emphasis on paper and lack of working code that
has caused the failure of too many projects.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #5
On May 23, 3:37 am, Ian Collins <ian-n...@hotmail.comwrote:
Martin P. Hellwig wrote:
In my opinion, bigger projects are like smaller projects
excepts you have about 90% overhead on documentation before
you even write a single line of code, of course you can try
without but that usually ends in failure of the project.
I though it was the over emphasis on paper and lack of working
code that has caused the failure of too many projects.
If all you produce is paper, I don't think that the project can
be considered a success. On the other hand, anything that
hasn't been written down and reviewed isn't there. I certainly
wouldn't go with "90% overhead on documentation"; I would argue
that any "overhead" on documentation is a sign of a poor
process. Documentation, in various formats, does appear as a
side effect of other aspects of a good process, however: you
can't do a design review unless there is a design, written down
somewhere; you can't do code review unless there is code,
written down somewhere (and the code has to be readable, which
could also be considered documentation); you can't review the
completeness of the unit tests unless there is something which
says what the unit tests test. And you're really wasting your
time if you write a single line of code without knowing why, or
what it should do---and what isn't written down, isn't known.
(That doesn't mean you need a classical external document. Just
that whatever you were thinking when you wrote the code is
written down somewhere, in some form or another.)

From experience, I find that about 60% of the time in a project
will be spent in design, 30% in coding (including coding the
tests), and about 10% in debugging. But of course, it varies
greatly. And what you count in which phase may vary---if you're
using a library you're not familiar with and which isn't well
documented, you'll almost certainly end up writing some
"experiments" to see how it behaves: is that "coding", "design",
or yet something else?

I don't think that there's that much difference between big
projects and small projects in this respect. The difference
between the two is how you manage larger numbers of people on
the bigger project. In other words, not the "documentation",
but how you communicate it between developers, and how you
ensure that everyone is on the same wave length.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #6
James Kanze wrote:
And you're really wasting your
time if you write a single line of code without knowing why, or
what it should do---and what isn't written down, isn't known.
This might be true for some projects but certainly not in the general
case -- sometimes, the goals to achieve are somewhat blurred or might
not yet be known in entirety and have yet to be discovered. In such
situations, explorative programming is (imho) more effective than trying
to pen it down on paper beforehand.
Jun 27 '08 #7
Matthias Buelow wrote:
James Kanze wrote:
>And you're really wasting your
time if you write a single line of code without knowing why, or
what it should do---and what isn't written down, isn't known.

This might be true for some projects but certainly not in the general
case -- sometimes, the goals to achieve are somewhat blurred or might
not yet be known in entirety and have yet to be discovered. In such
situations, explorative programming is (imho) more effective than trying
to pen it down on paper beforehand.
Indeed. I'm just embarking on that voyage of discovery with my current
client. With eight stakeholders, all with slightly different and
somewhat vague ideas what they want, it should be an interesting journey.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #8
On 2008-05-23 03:49:06 -0400, James Kanze <ja*********@gmail.comsaid:
>
I don't think that there's that much difference between big
projects and small projects in this respect. The difference
between the two is how you manage larger numbers of people on
the bigger project. In other words, not the "documentation",
but how you communicate it between developers, and how you
ensure that everyone is on the same wave length.
I think there's an important difference, but it depends on just what a
"small project" is. For relatively new programmers, a small project is
something they've worked on by themselves, something simple enough that
they can hold all of the documentation in their mind without writing it
down. Getting back into such a project after a long layoff can reveal
the fundamental flaw here: memory fails, and, as with your example of
an unfamiliar library, it may require some experiments to "remember"
why certain things were done. Of course, what this reveals is that a
"small project" in this sense is one that hasn't really been properly
managed, but was small enough that the resulting losses were not
noticed or, typically, were accepted as inevitable. In that sense,
moving from a small project to a large project means learning and
applying project management techniques that previously weren't well
understood or rigorously applied.

After getting through that developmental phase, there is, indeed, not
much difference between big projecgts and small projects. But that's
because the approach to small projects has changed.

--
Pete
Roundhouse Consulting, Ltd. (www.versatilecoding.com) Author of "The
Standard C++ Library Extensions: a Tutorial and Reference
(www.petebecker.com/tr1book)

Jun 27 '08 #9
On May 22, 5:55*pm, duli <dulipi...@gmail.comwrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.
Take any Python Web framework, study the source and ask questions.
Also, keep reading this newsgroup, there are plenty of discussions
about (good) design practices.

Michele Simionato
Jun 27 '08 #10
On 23 mai, 10:36, Matthias Buelow <m...@incubus.dewrote:
James Kanze wrote:
And you're really wasting your time if you write a single
line of code without knowing why, or what it should do---and
what isn't written down, isn't known.
This might be true for some projects but certainly not in the
general case -- sometimes, the goals to achieve are somewhat
blurred or might not yet be known in entirety and have yet to
be discovered. In such situations, explorative programming is
(imho) more effective than trying to pen it down on paper
beforehand.
Yes, but you still have to decide what you're exploring. You
don't just write random code; you write code to fulfill some
specific specification. Whether you're sure that it's the right
specification or not is separate issue---in practice, I'd say
that it's even more important to document what the code is doing
if you're not sure about the specification.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #11
On 23 mai, 13:56, Pete Becker <p...@versatilecoding.comwrote:
On 2008-05-23 03:49:06 -0400, James Kanze <james.ka...@gmail.comsaid:
I don't think that there's that much difference between big
projects and small projects in this respect. The difference
between the two is how you manage larger numbers of people on
the bigger project. In other words, not the "documentation",
but how you communicate it between developers, and how you
ensure that everyone is on the same wave length.
I think there's an important difference, but it depends on
just what a "small project" is. For relatively new
programmers, a small project is something they've worked on by
themselves, something simple enough that they can hold all of
the documentation in their mind without writing it down.
Part of my point was that you don't in fact know anything that
isn't written down. You just think you do.

Normally, no professional project should be done by just one
person, but if you don't have the choice, I find that writing
something down forces me to be clearer about it, and to actually
think it through. In my own case, at least, I don't seem to be
able to get away with as much "hand waving" when I'm writing
things down.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #12
James Kanze wrote:
On 23 mai, 10:36, Matthias Buelow <m...@incubus.dewrote:
>James Kanze wrote:
>>And you're really wasting your time if you write a single
line of code without knowing why, or what it should do---and
what isn't written down, isn't known.
>This might be true for some projects but certainly not in the
general case -- sometimes, the goals to achieve are somewhat
blurred or might not yet be known in entirety and have yet to
be discovered. In such situations, explorative programming is
(imho) more effective than trying to pen it down on paper
beforehand.

Yes, but you still have to decide what you're exploring. You
don't just write random code; you write code to fulfill some
specific specification.
As specified by your unit tests. The requirements from the customer are
often very vague, especially in the web application world. In some
domains, the best way to get detailed requirements from a customer is to
start building the application. Once they see something, they then
realise exactly what they want it to do.

The quality of requirements varies from the exact (say a safety critical
device driver) to the virtually nonexistent (I started what turned out
to be a one year web project with a single page sketch). We have to be
able to adapt our development process to match.
Whether you're sure that it's the right
specification or not is separate issue---in practice, I'd say
that it's even more important to document what the code is doing
if you're not sure about the specification.
Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or if they are
game, write) acceptance tests. In the vague and woolly world of web
based applications, tools like FitNesse have evolved to help users write
tests.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #13
James Kanze wrote:
On 23 mai, 13:56, Pete Becker <p...@versatilecoding.comwrote:
>On 2008-05-23 03:49:06 -0400, James Kanze <james.ka...@gmail.comsaid:
>>I don't think that there's that much difference between big
projects and small projects in this respect. The difference
between the two is how you manage larger numbers of people on
the bigger project. In other words, not the "documentation",
but how you communicate it between developers, and how you
ensure that everyone is on the same wave length.
>I think there's an important difference, but it depends on
just what a "small project" is. For relatively new
programmers, a small project is something they've worked on by
themselves, something simple enough that they can hold all of
the documentation in their mind without writing it down.

Part of my point was that you don't in fact know anything that
isn't written down. You just think you do.
That's a good point.
Normally, no professional project should be done by just one
person, but if you don't have the choice, I find that writing
something down forces me to be clearer about it, and to actually
think it through. In my own case, at least, I don't seem to be
able to get away with as much "hand waving" when I'm writing
things down.
As we are all individuals, the form of the writing down that works best
varies from person to person. I prefer to express my thoughts as code,
in the form of tests. Some prefer UML diagrams, others prefer use cases
or even good old functional requirements.

The most important thing, as you say, is that you do write something
down before you write any application code.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #14
In article <54**********************************@26g2000hsk.g ooglegroups.com>,
James Kanze <ja*********@gmail.comwrote:
>Part of my point was that you don't in fact know anything that
isn't written down. You just think you do.
And of course as soon as more than one programmer gets involved,
what one thinks they know might not be the same as what the other
person thinks is known about the same topic.

Just this afternoon I asked a co-worker to put an interface in writing,
specifically so as to "lock it in", making it clearer that if the
interface changes after this point that I have to be notified of
that.

The interface itself was relatively simply described... or at least
it was until I replied back and asked about a bunch of corner-cases
that have shown up in our work from time to time.

The responses to several of my questions might be "No, we don't do that".
But those "No's" will form part of the interface description, parts
that were left undifferentiated may become at least partly defined
by our now saying that we will NOT use particular fields in
particular ways.

It is exactly as you said: until something is written down (and, ideally,
reviewed), we just *think* we know it.
--
"Eightly percent of the people in the world are fools and the
rest of us are in danger of contamination." -- Walter Matthau
Jun 27 '08 #15
On May 24, 12:33 am, Ian Collins <ian-n...@hotmail.comwrote:
James Kanze wrote:
On 23 mai, 10:36, Matthias Buelow <m...@incubus.dewrote:
James Kanze wrote:
And you're really wasting your time if you write a single
line of code without knowing why, or what it should do---and
what isn't written down, isn't known.
This might be true for some projects but certainly not in the
general case -- sometimes, the goals to achieve are somewhat
blurred or might not yet be known in entirety and have yet to
be discovered. In such situations, explorative programming is
(imho) more effective than trying to pen it down on paper
beforehand.
Yes, but you still have to decide what you're exploring. You
don't just write random code; you write code to fulfill some
specific specification.
As specified by your unit tests.
And how do you specify your unit tests?
The requirements from the customer are often very vague,
especially in the web application world. In some domains, the
best way to get detailed requirements from a customer is to
start building the application. Once they see something, they
then realise exactly what they want it to do.
Certainly. But you do have to specify what you're going to
code. That doesn't mean that the specification is cast in
stone, but that you have a trace of what you've done, and that
you know what you've done. (For certain things, it's probably
acceptable to specify "whatever"---but you should at least know,
and have written down, that it doesn't matter, and that whatever
happens to come up as a result of the implementation is fine.
And if the customer later declares that it is important, then
you put it in writing, and do code review and add tests to
ensure that it behaves like that in all situations, and after
all further modifications.)
The quality of requirements varies from the exact (say a
safety critical device driver) to the virtually nonexistent (I
started what turned out to be a one year web project with a
single page sketch). We have to be able to adapt our
development process to match.
I'm not sure that we agree on what is meant by "specifications".
In a very real sense, all projects start out as a vague idea,
which is fleshed in little by little. And all successful
projects end up with a working system, with code. The only
issue is how much of this is done exclusively by the client, how
much exclusively by the development team, and how much in
collaboration.

It's true that in many of my applications, an important part of
the specification has been an RFC (or several); if you're
writing a RADIUS server (for dynamic allocation of IP
addresses), you don't "experiment" to find out what the RADIUS
protocol should be.
Whether you're sure that it's the right specification or not
is separate issue---in practice, I'd say that it's even more
important to document what the code is doing if you're not
sure about the specification.
Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or
if they are game, write) acceptance tests. In the vague and
woolly world of web based applications, tools like FitNesse
have evolved to help users write tests.
In a visual application, I can imagine that having the customer
"sign off" screen shots could be an important part of the
specification process; if you have a tool which allows the
customer to actually generate the screen shots himself, so much
the better. That still leaves a number of questions open: in a
web application, for example, different levels of logging are
doubtlessly required. You can't really expect the customer to
write, or even understand, test programs which verify that the
logs are correct.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #16
On May 24, 12:39 am, Ian Collins <ian-n...@hotmail.comwrote:
James Kanze wrote:
[...]
Normally, no professional project should be done by just one
person, but if you don't have the choice, I find that
writing something down forces me to be clearer about it, and
to actually think it through. In my own case, at least, I
don't seem to be able to get away with as much "hand waving"
when I'm writing things down.
As we are all individuals, the form of the writing down that
works best varies from person to person. I prefer to express
my thoughts as code, in the form of tests. Some prefer UML
diagrams, others prefer use cases or even good old functional
requirements.
Tests can be part of it; I'm open to all forms of
"documentation", or "writing down". A significant part of the
contract can sometimes even be expressed in the function
signature. Typically, however, a test represents enough code
that I would want something more abstract. And a test doesn't
really work well as documentation for pre-conditions (e.g. this
pointer may not be null).
The most important thing, as you say, is that you do write
something down before you write any application code.
I said "any code", not "any application code". IMHO, the same
thing applies to test code. On the other hand, by code, I
really mean executable code. Things like function signatures
are definitly an important part of documentation.

I remember one project where there was an absolute rule that
every function must be preceded by Doxygen like comments, with a
comment for each parameter, and a short statement saying what it
did, at the least. Which led to things like:

// Sets the administrative state.
//
// \param newAdministrativeState
// The new administrative state.
// -----------------------------------------------------------
void setAdministrativeState(
AdministrativeState const& newAdministrativeState ) ;

At least in the base class, I think that the function signature
is already more than enough, and management was responsive
enough that when presented with this example, they changed the
rule. (In the derived classes, seting the administrative state
could, and often did, have significant side effects.)

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #17
James Kanze wrote:
On May 24, 12:33 am, Ian Collins <ian-n...@hotmail.comwrote:
>James Kanze wrote:
>>Yes, but you still have to decide what you're exploring. You
don't just write random code; you write code to fulfill some
specific specification.
>As specified by your unit tests.

And how do you specify your unit tests?
That's pretty close to asking how do you specify your specifications?
Unit tests can be used as executable requirements.
>The requirements from the customer are often very vague,
especially in the web application world. In some domains, the
best way to get detailed requirements from a customer is to
start building the application. Once they see something, they
then realise exactly what they want it to do.

Certainly. But you do have to specify what you're going to
code. That doesn't mean that the specification is cast in
stone, but that you have a trace of what you've done, and that
you know what you've done.
Tests do that for you. They are concise, executable and always up to date.
>The quality of requirements varies from the exact (say a
safety critical device driver) to the virtually nonexistent (I
started what turned out to be a one year web project with a
single page sketch). We have to be able to adapt our
development process to match.

I'm not sure that we agree on what is meant by "specifications".
I think we are close on a meaning, but differ on the execution, if you
excuse the pun.
>
>Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or
if they are game, write) acceptance tests. In the vague and
woolly world of web based applications, tools like FitNesse
have evolved to help users write tests.

In a visual application, I can imagine that having the customer
"sign off" screen shots could be an important part of the
specification process; if you have a tool which allows the
customer to actually generate the screen shots himself, so much
the better. That still leaves a number of questions open: in a
web application, for example, different levels of logging are
doubtlessly required. You can't really expect the customer to
write, or even understand, test programs which verify that the
logs are correct.
Depending on the application, that falls in the unit tests, or the
customer acceptance tests, or both. Sometimes the client simply doe not
care (I have been asked "what logs?"). In other cases, the
organisation's IT department will provide the requirements and tests.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #18
Ian Collins <ia******@hotmail.comkirjutas:
Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or if they are
game, write) acceptance tests.
My English might not be the best, but this phrase "customers are game"
should AFAIK mean that the customers will be hunted down and killed :-)

Paavo
Jun 27 '08 #19
Paavo Helde wrote:
Ian Collins <ia******@hotmail.comkirjutas:
>Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or if they are
game, write) acceptance tests.

My English might not be the best, but this phrase "customers are game"
should AFAIK mean that the customers will be hunted down and killed :-)
In a couple of cases, I wouldn't argue with that!

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #20
On May 22, 11:55*am, duli <dulipi...@gmail.comwrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.

Most of the code I have written and books that I have read deal with
toy programs and I am looking for something a bit more
comprehensive. *For example, maybe a complete compiler written in C++
for some language, or a complete web server or implementing
.net libraries in some language (just a few examples of the scale of
things I am interested in learning).

Thanks!
Duli.
So much text, and no suggestion!
OP, this very message board suggested me not long ago: Software tools
in Pascal. Yes it's pascal, but Pascal is not that hard. I have read
through chapter 3, and so far I have learned:
How to implement strings (yes we do that in C already :) )
How to write a regular expression parser
How to write the famous C "#include" (this was not available in the
old pascal they were using"

There is so much more, and at the end of the book, there will be a
text editor. This book has already changed how I view programming. I
just hoped there was a version with up to date programming languages.
Freepascal has already most of the stuff implemented, which infuriates
me sometimes because I have to name my strings mystring :)

Also there is "Beautiful Code", where the greatest programmers have
put together the code the loved most in their entire life (with full
code). I heard the creator of C has discussed his spam detector (the
one in Practice of programming) in it. The creator of Ruby has also
some input in it.
This is definitely a book I should get.
Jun 27 '08 #21
On May 24, 4:43 pm, "noagbodjivic...@gmail.com"
<noagbodjivic...@gmail.comwrote:
On May 22, 11:55 am, duli <dulipi...@gmail.comwrote:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for
developing a big software project ? So starting from
inception, problem definition, design, coding and final
delivery on a single theme or application.
Most of the code I have written and books that I have read
deal with toy programs and I am looking for something a bit
more comprehensive. For example, maybe a complete compiler
written in C++ for some language, or a complete web server
or implementing .net libraries in some language (just a few
examples of the scale of things I am interested in
learning).
So much text, and no suggestion!
OP, this very message board suggested me not long ago:
Software tools in Pascal.
That might have been me; I have recommended the book in the past
(and still do). It's an excellent book (and it's really in C,
disguised as Pascal.) It's not about programming large
applications, however, and doesn't begin to address the issues
raised when you have, say, 50 people working on the project.
Yes it's pascal, but Pascal is not that hard. I have read
through chapter 3, and so far I have learned:
How to implement strings (yes we do that in C already :) )
How to write a regular expression parser
How to write the famous C "#include" (this was not available in the
old pascal they were using"
There is so much more, and at the end of the book, there will
be a text editor. This book has already changed how I view
programming.
It does that. Compared to books teaching a language, it does
teach how to write programs that do something useful.
Independently of the language---I once used it as a course book
for a course in C, since the way the authors write Pascal is
really C in disguise.

If you're interested, try converting some of the programs to
C++. The only real issue is what classes to define (if
any---some of the earlier code is so simple that adding classes
wouldn't be justified). If you have questions, post them here.
I just hoped there was a version with up to date programming
languages. Freepascal has already most of the stuff
implemented, which infuriates me sometimes because I have to
name my strings mystring :)
Part of adopting the code to C would be, IMHO, using std::string
and std::vector rather than the code they propose. There's
enough other good stuff in there that isn't supported directly
by the C++ library.
Also there is "Beautiful Code", where the greatest programmers
have put together the code the loved most in their entire life
(with full code). I heard the creator of C has discussed his
spam detector (the one in Practice of programming) in it. The
creator of Ruby has also some input in it.
This is definitely a book I should get.
I'm not familiar with it. When you spoke of "large" programs,
however, I immediately thought a million or so lines. Reading
back, I think what you meant wasn't so much what a professional
would consider "large", but simply something which was large
enough to do some realistic work. If that's the case, you've
probably found the best book around. For something more C++
oriented (but which doesn't present full projects), Barton and
Nackman's "Scientific and Engineering C++" is quite good (but
beware that it is also quite dated---the ideas are still very,
very good, but the C++ isn't the same language we call C++
today). I'd also recommend Robert Martin's "Designing Object
Oriented C++ Applications Using the Booch Method", but beware
that it is very dated, since not only has C++ greatly evolved
since it was written, but Booch has given way to UML.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #22
no*************@gmail.com wrote:
>
Also there is "Beautiful Code", where the greatest programmers have
put together the code the loved most in their entire life (with full
code). I heard the creator of C has discussed his spam detector (the
one in Practice of programming) in it. The creator of Ruby has also
some input in it.
This is definitely a book I should get.
It is an inspirational book for a programmer, but it does not address
the issues you will encounter with a large, team based project.

A big project can be viewed as a number of small projects bound by a
number of language neutral processes. No matter how good the code is, a
big project will fail without solid processes.

--
Ian Collins.
Jun 27 '08 #23
James Kanze <ja*********@gmail.comwrites:
On May 24, 4:43 pm, "noagbodjivic...@gmail.com"
<noagbodjivic...@gmail.comwrote:
[...]
>OP, this very message board suggested me not long ago:
Software tools in Pascal.
[...]
If you're interested, try converting some of the programs to
C++. The only real issue is what classes to define (if
any---some of the earlier code is so simple that adding classes
wouldn't be justified). If you have questions, post them here.
If you have questions about C++, please post them to comp.lang.c++,
not comp.lang.c. (This thread is cross-posted to comp.lang.c++ and
comp.lang.c.)

[...]
Part of adopting the code to C would be, IMHO, using std::string
and std::vector rather than the code they propose. There's
enough other good stuff in there that isn't supported directly
by the C++ library.
Um, no, that woule be part of adopting the code to C++.

[snip]

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) ks***@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
Jun 27 '08 #24
On May 24, 11:16 pm, Keith Thompson <ks...@mib.orgwrote:
James Kanze <james.ka...@gmail.comwrites:
On May 24, 4:43 pm, "noagbodjivic...@gmail.com"
<noagbodjivic...@gmail.comwrote:
[...]
OP, this very message board suggested me not long ago:
Software tools in Pascal.
[...]
If you're interested, try converting some of the programs to
C++. The only real issue is what classes to define (if
any---some of the earlier code is so simple that adding classes
wouldn't be justified). If you have questions, post them here.
If you have questions about C++, please post them to comp.lang.c++,
not comp.lang.c. (This thread is cross-posted to comp.lang.c++ and
comp.lang.c.)
Not again.
[...]
Part of adopting the code to C would be, IMHO, using
std::string and std::vector rather than the code they
propose. There's enough other good stuff in there that
isn't supported directly
Um, no, that woule be part of adopting the code to C++.
Definitely.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #25
On May 27, 4:54 pm, Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nos...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
On 24 May, 09:56, Paavo Helde <nob...@ebi.eewrote:
Ian Collins <ian-n...@hotmail.comkirjutas:
Indeed, half the battle is getting the customer to agree (or if they are
game, write) acceptance tests.
My English might not be the best, but this phrase "customers
are game" should AFAIK mean that the customers will be
hunted down and killed :-)
a slightly obscure english usage. It implies willingness,
perhaps even courage.
Not that obscure---it's more or less standard American usage.
(Random House marks it as informal, but the other dictionaries I
have access to don't.)

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

game

NOWN: [...]

ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: gam·er, gam·est
1. Plucky and unyielding in spirit; resolute: She
put up a game fight against her detractors.
2. Ready and willing: Are you game for a swim?

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:ja*********@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
Jun 27 '08 #26
In article
<21**********************************@x41g2000hsb. googlegroups.com>,
duli <du*******@gmail.comwrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.
I suggest you consider Craig Larman's "Applying UML and Patterns, An
Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative
Development".

-- Russell
Jun 27 '08 #27
On May 22, 10:55*am, duli <dulipi...@gmail.comwrote:
Hi:
I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
or application.

Most of the code I have written and books that I have read deal with
toy programs and I am looking for something a bit more
comprehensive. *For example, maybe a complete compiler written in C++
for some language, or a complete web server or implementing
.net libraries in some language (just a few examples of the scale of
things I am interested in learning).

Thanks!
Duli.
http://www.amazon.com/Large-Scale-So...2675205&sr=1-1

This book was very popular at a previous place that I worked. A bit
dated now, but at least raises some of the critical points. Perhaps a
Python treatment of the same topics would be useful...

-- Paul
Jun 27 '08 #28

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