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The ACCU passes on review copies of computer books to its members for them to review. The result is a large, high quality collection of book reviews by programmers, for programmers. Currently there are 1949 reviews in the database and more every month.
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Title:
Anti-Patterns&Patterns in Software Configuration Management
Author:
William J Brown
ISBN:
0 471 32929 0
Publisher:
Wiley
Pages:
316
Price:
£29-50
Reviewer:
Mark Easterbrook
Subject:
patterns
Appeared in:
OL37
The misquote 'It does exactly what it says on the cover' springs to mind for this book, in that it is a reference book containing good and bad models for the management of software development.

Although it assumes some knowledge of the software life cycle, the introduction does a good job of explaining the nature of patterns and anti-patterns and the template used to present them in the book. The bulk of the content is a series of anti-patterns in three sections; software configuration management, management and process and requirements and testing. Each pattern is presented in a clear and readable fashion, with numerous examples covering different project sizes, locations and industries.

I have two reservations about the book, the first is the price which at $45 is too high for the quantity of advice presented and the second that there are more anti-patterns than patterns which gives the overall feel that it is documenting the negative rather than providing guidance to successful software development. Recommended.