note
tilly
<i>You are not the first person I have heard speak praises of this book. I think I will have to see if my local bookstore has a copy. Is the book more breadth or depth?</i><p>
It is both more in depth and covers more breadth than virtually any other book you're likely to pick up. Trying to decide which one it does better is pointless.<p>
<i>Code Complete</i> tries to cover about all "software construction" activities. You might think of this as, "Everything generically involved in coding." It manages to both cover a broad range of topics, yet handles each with detail and specificity. Part of the reason why he is able to do this is the style. He doesn't spend a lot of time arguing - he takes a topic, effectively summarizes what is known, often summarizes some key research (he likes providing key numbers), notes a key point or two, gives an example and then moves on to something else. He also typically leaves you with a list of a half-dozen research papers supporting whatever he claimed.<p>
The result is both detailed and compact. Which allows him to cover a lot of ground in 862 pages. (Followed by an 18 page bibliography of supporting books, articles, studies, etc.)<p>
Yet even so he can't cover everything. Which is why he focusses on topics that are generic and cross language. A decade from now, the current copy of <i>Code Complete</i> will still apply even if you're writing in a language that hasn't even been thought of yet. And will still be being cited as a classic. There aren't many programming books that you can say that about.
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