I’m very happy with the knowledgeable and far-ranging discussions we’ve been having in the first two Code Reads (The Mythical Man-Month and “Go To Statement Considered Harmful”). The discussion of Dijkstra’s famous essay led us to some other related readings that I’m going to lay out for the next reading (which, like this week’s, will probably post a day late, on Tuesday rather than Monday — because it’s my kids’ birthday this weekend!). This will be a Dijkstra triple header: Notes on Structured Programming, “What led to ‘Notes on Structured Programming'”, and “The Humble Programmer.” Together these papers provide a deeper understanding of the perspective Dijsktra offered in the celebrated “Go To Statement” piece.
Then, the following week (Oct. 23), let’s look at Donald Knuth’s “Structured Programming with go to Statements”. The Knuth is almost certainly way over my head, but I’ll give it a go, and maybe you guys can help me out.
The week after (Oct. 30), let’s change the scene entirely, and look at Mitch Kapor’s Software Design Manifesto, which extends the discussions we’ve been having about the development process (Brooks) and coding discipline (Dijkstra) into the realm of design process.
I’ve added a permanent link in this blog’s sidebar to the Code Reads category archive and also a link to the RSS feed for the category, if you ‘re only interested in the software discussions and not in keeping up with my other topical ravings. I’ll also try to keep a link there to the post that lists the next reading(s).
Thanks to the denizens of Lambda the Ultimate, joel.reddit.com (the Reddit category created for devotees of Joel on Software), and programming.reddit.com for linking here and pointing people to the conversations. Also thanks to these individual bloggers for linking in: Rafe Colburn, Anarchaia, Hacia la Cuarta Generacion del Software, danvk.org, Superficie Reflexiva, Strange Quarks, Honey of an Anklet, and Ralph Johnson (one of the so-called “gang of four” authors of the original Design Patterns book). If I missed you (I’m relying on Technorati), let me know!
As for that book giveaway, here’s my plan: When I have the books in hand, I will award them at random from the list of people who have made what I consider substantive contributions to the discussion (which means nearly everyone so far). Then I’ll email you if I have an email address, or post here if I don’t, to let the winners know.