Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, Fifth Edition

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Very good and outstanding service
Very good and outstanding service, but items takes to long to arrive.
Thank you for time and business

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INTULECT


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The Good And The Bad
This book is great for learning about different types of tests and models in the software engineering world. I do find the book too wordy in some parts though. Some of the sentences said are not necessary because they are common sense. Overall though, if you are not looking for a book dedicated to programming and looking for a book about practices in the computer industry then I would recommend this book.

User review
Alright I guess
First and foremost, I have not read all chapters in this book. But from what I have read, from parts 1,2,4, and 5, I agree that the text covers too much and often says that much of the methods are subjected to the particular circumstances of an individual's projects. That is, while there are many ways to do a task, you and your team or company has to settle which one you're going to use. And this is understandable, while unpleasant.
The pleasant thing would be if there were a concrete solid step-by step instruction on how to do everything. But this is impossible, because various projects may pursue various paths in developing software projects. For instance, while one project has to be done quickly and information gathering is not as wanted, other project may require more time, being laid back, and have all little requirements and details laid out at the beginning.
I understand that author wanted to cover all aspects, all approaches, and various details, and that led to a text that is not the easiest and not the most pleasant to read. But, understanding the complexity of a task at hand, and the variety of methods and opinions surrounding the software engineering, I think this text was informative.
The little quotes inserted here and then, gave this text personal touch and made it less dry. I liked those. ;)

User review
CS needs a new go-to SE textbook
If this is THE book for undergrad SE principles, it is only another reason why enrollment in CS programs has dropped.

Problem #1. The book advocates software readability, efficiency, and so forth. Well, why not apply those principles to writing? The text is so dense, you can read whole chapters and maybe get only a few take-home points.

Problem #2. Each chapter presents multiple dozens of new definitions and acronyms. Later chapters fail to repeat or remind you of a prior definition or acronym. It would take some kind of autism to have total recall upon finishing a chapter in this book.

Problem #3. The author quotes so many other works, that it appears nothing is of his own original thought. It reminds me of when I was in junior high and was first learning to write essays. I would put as many quotes as possible in an essay in order to make it look official and to try to get by with little understanding or critical thinking of what I was reading. In a similar manner, this text is little more than a regurgitation of other peoples' work. The readers feel like they are reading regurgitation, similar to the way it appears regurgitation tastes to a chick from it's mother.

Problem #4. The author presents many things backwards in the text. He mentions concepts that he will define later in the text to prove a current point! This poor technique is quite troubling for a reader who is unfamiliar to the current point, much less familiar with the later concept. This book comes off more as a way for the author to tout that he is up on all of his latest readings in SE, not as an accessible presentation for readers new to the subject.

In conclusion, this book only adds to the pile of terrible CS books. I'm amazed that these get praised by the authors' peers. Well, maybe I shouldn't be amazed because it seems like CS authors have a conspiracy to keep the bar incredibly low so they can cash in on high textbook prices with low writing effort. The Head First series should be the beginning of a new standard. Perhaps some of the humor of the Head First series needn't be used, but clear, somewhat entertaining, example laden, accessible style should be emulated.

I propose that CS programs take seriously a voting system by students as to the clarity of a text and it's effectiveness in teaching the material. Maybe those books that don't measure up get flagged across all academia, similar to the way Wanted posters were spread for criminals in the Wild West. Seriously though, at the very least, there should be more critical review of CS literature to bring it up to a higher standard. The books that students find it hard to learn by should simply not be used. The time, potential, and possible future contributions to society by students is too important to waste with this drivel being written by so-called experts.

I also propose that someone take up a hobby of translating these poor texts from techno-babble to readable English. It would be an interesting experiment to see which text, the techno-babble version or the well-written version, would fare better in the marketplace. I bet you that someone could cash in on heroically saving students everywhere from the oppression of these painful texts.

User review
Pressman is too credulous, scope is too broad, examples need to be worked out in more detail, fit together better.
I used SEPA 6th edition as the textbook for CSE 5324 Software Engineering 1: Analysis, Design, & Testing (a graduate course) at the University of Texas at Arlington during the fall of 2007. I assigned chapters 1 through 14 only.

SEPA describes many software engineering methods, techniques, languages, formats, standards, etc. When I read the discussions of each of these, each discussion sounds more like a press release or an excerpt from an abstract of a paper describing the method, etc. In short, I find Pressman too credulous of the claims made by the originators. Pressman needs to be more critical & insightful in order for me to decide whether a given method is appropriate for a project or not.

Also, SEPA is too broad, the examples need to be worked out in more detail, and the examples need to fit together better, as in a worked-out case study project.

For CSE 5325, I now use `Applying UML and Patterns, 3rd edition` by Craig Larman (plus a smattering of other material to fill in areas required in the course's catalog description).