According to Monson-Haefel, the slim volume of two-page, easy-to-digest essays provides advice from software architects around the world on everything from how to avoid common pitfalls to how to build talented teams. He calls it a smorgasbord of advice from established software architects for other software architects or those who aspire to become software architects.
"The book is completely different from any other book you've read," says Monson-Haefel, who describes it as an open source book in the truest sense. "It is the combined work of more than four dozen authors, all of whom donated their thoughts and advice about software architecture." Each author wrote his or her own contributions, which were then examined and edited, and the best contributions were chosen for publication. "That's not much different than an open source software project where individuals contribute code rather than knowledge and wisdom."
Among the 97 principles in the book, readers will find such advice as:
- Don't Put Your Resume Ahead of the Requirements (Nitin Borwankar)
- Chances Are, Your Biggest Problem Isn't Technical (Mark Ramm)
- Communication Is King; Clarity and Leadership, Its Humble Servants (Mark Richards)
- Simplicity Before Generality, Use Before Reuse (Kevlin Henney)
- For the End User, the Interface Is the System (Vinayak Hegde)
- It's Never Too Early to Think About Performance (Rebecca Parsons)
97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know shares what top architects think is important and how they approach projects. If you want to improve or cement your career, this book is essential reading.
For a review copy or more information please email kathrynb@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
Richard Monson-Haefel , an independent software developer, coauthored all five editions of Enterprise JavaBeans and Java Message Service (all O'Reilly). He's a software architect specializing in multi-touch interfaces and a leading expert on enterprise computing. More detail on his work and writings can be found at Monson-Haefel.
Additional Resources:
For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and cover graphic, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596522698
Richard Monson-Haefel
ISBN: 9780596522698, 220 pages, Book Price: $34.99 USD, £26.99 GBP
PDF Price: $27.99 USD
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