‘Tis the season to buy tech books

(My Zeichick’s Take from Thursday, Dec. 6.)

Are you looking for some great gifts this holiday season? Of course you are! And do you want to buy technology books? Of course you do! Here are three that I recommend, either for you or for your development team.

“Automated Defect Prevention: Best Practices in Software Management”

In this authoritative new book, Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa have done an admirable job defining a realistic methodology for implementing infrastructure that automatically prevents defects from getting into software. Is it simple? No, of course not. There’s no silver bullet. But when the software industry is ready to journey toward zero-defect applications, the road will look like what Huizinga and Kolawa are talking about.

“Exploiting Online Games: Cheating Massively Distributed Systems”

I’m not a gamer—haven’t been for 20 years. So, I don’t have any experience with today’s massive network games. However, as a software engineer with a networking background, I’m fascinated by the technological challenges they pose… not only to infrastructure and performance, but also in the sense of human dynamics. Gary McGraw and Greg Hoglund have written an incredible book that you’ll enjoy reading.

“The Art of Agile Development”

I’m getting tired of books about agile software development. Too many say the same things over and over and over again. Here, James Shore and Shane Warden take a different approach. It’s very practical in how it categorizes agile thinking and agile methodologies. The only weakness is that the book is very tightly tied to Extreme Programming, so it’s hard to tell what are general agile practices and what are XP practices. Even so, it’s highly recommended.

I’d also like to refer you to “Take a Look in a Book,” the Special Report published in the Sept. 1 issue of SD Times. You’ll find many great holiday gift ideas for you, and for your friends and colleagues.