A Software Developer's Reading Plan

This list describes the reading program a software developer needs to work through to achieve full professional standing. The plan described is a generic baseline plan for a software professional who wants to focus on development.

Introductory Level
To move beyond "introductory" level, a developer must read the following books:

• Adams, James L. Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001.
• Bentley, Jon. Programming Pearls, 2d ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2000.
• Glass, Robert L. Facts and Fallacies of software Engineering. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• McConnell, Steve. Software Project Survival Guide. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1998.
• McConnell, Steve. Code Complete, 2d ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2004.

Practitioner Level
To achieve "intermediate" status, a programmer needs to read the following additional materials:

• Berczuk, Stephen P. and Brad Appleton. Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration. Bosten, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• Fowler, Martin. UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modelling Language, 3d ed. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• Glass, Robert L. Software Creativity. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
• Kaner, Cem, Jack Falk, Hung Q. Nguyen. Testing Computer Software, 2d ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
• Larman, Craig. Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process, 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
• McConnell, Steve. Rapid Development. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1996.
• Wiegers, Karl. Software Requirements, 2d ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2003.
• "Manager's Handbook for Software Development," NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Professional Level
A software developer must read the following materials to achieve full professional standing. Additional requirements must be tailored to each individual developer; this section describes the generic requirements.

• Bass, Len, Paul Clements, and Rick Kazman. Software Architecture in Practice, 2d ed. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• Fowler, Martin. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1999.
• Gamma, Erich, et al. Design Patterns. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
• Gilb, Tom. Principles of Software Engineering Management. Workingham, England: Addison-Wesley, 1988.
• Maguire, Steve. Writing Solid Code. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1993.
• Meyer, Bertrand. Object-Oriented Software Construction, 2d ed. New York, NY: Prentice Hall PTR, 1997.
• "Software Measurement Guidebook," NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.