Code Complete

Code CompleteCode Complete by Steve McConnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I started reading Code Complete years ago. (More than ten years ago, I think.) It’s a great book, but I kept putting it down in favor of more specific programming books, usually ones that I needed to read for something I had to learn for work; a new language or software package or whatever. And then I kind of forgot about it for awhile. But I finally got back to it in 2014, and just finished it up today. Near the end, I switched over from reading my hard copy of the first edition to reading the second edition on Safari.

Although the second edition is fairly old now too, and some of the specifics in it could be considered out of date, I’d say that almost everything in the book is still applicable.

The book, overall, is a solid introduction to the “best practices” for a professional software developer. It covers a lot of stuff that’s applicable for any professional programmer, regardless of the language you’re using or the environment you work in. McConnell has a lot of specific advice, and he backs it up with data; this isn’t one of those books that reads like a religious screed. It’s not just opinion.

If you’re making your living as a computer programmer, you should really read this book.

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