Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Steven C. McConnell

£29.95

buy from amazon

Don't buy this book!

I'm reviewing the old edition - it's great but get the second edition instead.

I got this book a few years ago and have recently been looking through it again - what stands out for me is how much reading this book changed the way I work.

I was asking people for recommendations for books that talk about programming - covering concepts like how to name variables. This is that book - it has a whole chapter on the subject of variable naming.

Wherever you open this book you will find thoughtful and insightful advice on the underlying concepts and issues of programming. The book assumes you can already program and aims to get you writing better, more maintainable, code.

Reading the book is like having a very experienced colleague who constantly warns you of the pitfalls and bogus shortcuts you could be taken in by.

However it was written in 1993 and is quite dated - it talks of object oriented programming as showing promise, has little mention of IDEs, and all the example seem to be in Pascal.

I'll be ordering the second edition