Bioinformatics Software Engineering: Delivering Effective Applications
By Paul Weston
Date: 2005-06-29 Rating: 4
Review:
Okay...for the naive biologist
I sat down and read through it at a recent bioinformatics conference
in Detroit where Wiley had an exhibit. It's applicable for people who
just learned how to code and have not had any formal software
development training. In my experience, this type of scenario happens a
lot: an amateur buys something such as Visual Basic and suddenly he or
she is writing code. Someone in the office hears about it and things
begin to explode. Suddenly, there is a ton of poorly tested, poorly
engineered code, but the amateur is seen as an incredible genious
because they can fix the mistakes they made - mistakes that probably
should have never happened. So if you have someone in your office who
got their hands on a compiler for the first time, you might want to
read this to find out that there is more to programming than just
writing code. I thought the text was well written for both managers and
novice coders.
However, if you're an experienced developer (ie
you have a four year degree in CS or are familiar with concepts of
software testing, requirements gathering etc)you won't find any great
insights in this one that makes it worth the price. It's basic software
engineering information for software developers getting started.
As
far as my comment on price, I'll add one more thing. If software
development is completely new to you, this is a good start. After all,
if it saves you from making some of those horrible mistakes I alluded
to or opens your eyes so that it encourages you to take a formal course
in software engineering and testing, then this is even more
justification to encourage your boss to buy this text for you.
Again,
this is a bit of a mixed bag for a review, and I'm a bit prejudiced
about appropriate text books...again, maybe the easy read will
encourage some beginners not to take the "cowboy" approach to software
development. Get this book as a start...and then get some books with
much more depth in critical subject areas such as those by Shari
Pfleeger, Len Bass and Paul Jorgensen.
Part of me says give it
two stars, part of me says give it five stars. It really depends on
your background. Just don't expect this book to make you an expert in
bioinformatics...it's basic software engineering with bioinformatics as
the backround subject.
http://rapidshare.com/files/25367484/Bioinformatics_Software_Engineering_fixed.pdf
By Paul Weston
- Publisher: Wiley
- Number Of Pages: 140
- Publication Date: 2004-12-07
- Sales Rank: 1263619
- ISBN / ASIN: 0470857722
- EAN: 9780470857724
- Binding: Paperback
- Manufacturer: Wiley
- Studio: Wiley
- Average Rating: 4
- Total Reviews: 1
Date: 2005-06-29 Rating: 4
Review:
Okay...for the naive biologist
I sat down and read through it at a recent bioinformatics conference
in Detroit where Wiley had an exhibit. It's applicable for people who
just learned how to code and have not had any formal software
development training. In my experience, this type of scenario happens a
lot: an amateur buys something such as Visual Basic and suddenly he or
she is writing code. Someone in the office hears about it and things
begin to explode. Suddenly, there is a ton of poorly tested, poorly
engineered code, but the amateur is seen as an incredible genious
because they can fix the mistakes they made - mistakes that probably
should have never happened. So if you have someone in your office who
got their hands on a compiler for the first time, you might want to
read this to find out that there is more to programming than just
writing code. I thought the text was well written for both managers and
novice coders.
However, if you're an experienced developer (ie
you have a four year degree in CS or are familiar with concepts of
software testing, requirements gathering etc)you won't find any great
insights in this one that makes it worth the price. It's basic software
engineering information for software developers getting started.
As
far as my comment on price, I'll add one more thing. If software
development is completely new to you, this is a good start. After all,
if it saves you from making some of those horrible mistakes I alluded
to or opens your eyes so that it encourages you to take a formal course
in software engineering and testing, then this is even more
justification to encourage your boss to buy this text for you.
Again,
this is a bit of a mixed bag for a review, and I'm a bit prejudiced
about appropriate text books...again, maybe the easy read will
encourage some beginners not to take the "cowboy" approach to software
development. Get this book as a start...and then get some books with
much more depth in critical subject areas such as those by Shari
Pfleeger, Len Bass and Paul Jorgensen.
Part of me says give it
two stars, part of me says give it five stars. It really depends on
your background. Just don't expect this book to make you an expert in
bioinformatics...it's basic software engineering with bioinformatics as
the backround subject.
http://rapidshare.com/files/25367484/Bioinformatics_Software_Engineering_fixed.pdf
