Human Aspects of Software Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering Series) eBook Download

awareness of problems, dilemmas, questions, and conflicts that might be raised during the course of software development
* Includes an appendix with sample course slides, and a full PowerPoint presentation that can be downloaded from Charlesriver.com


Comprehensive Study of Psychology and Sociology of S.E.
First, a truth-in-advertising disclaimer:

I was a reviewer paid by the publisher to review the book
prior to its publication. I decided
that the book was good after reading it from beginning to
end, starting with a hope that the book would teach me
something.

To give a flavor of the book, I give the table of contents:

Part I Software Development Environments
1 The Nature of Software Engineering (SE)
2 SE Methods (including Spiral Model, Unified Process, AND XP)
3 Working in Teams
4 Software as a Product

Part II The World of SE
5 Code of Ethics of SE
6 International Perspectives on SE
7 Different Perspectives on SE
8 The History of SE

Part III Software-Human Interaction
9 Program Comprehension, Code Inspections, and Refactoring
10 Learning Processes in SE
11 Abstraction and Other Heuristics of Software Development
12 Characteristics of Software and the Human Aspects of SE

Part IV Business Analysis of SE
13 Software Project Estimation and Tracking
14 Software as a Business
15 The Internet and the Human Aspects of SE

Part V SE Education
16 Case Studies in SE
17 Students' Summary Projects and Presentations
18 Remarks about SE Education
19 Additional Information on Resources used in This Book

I like the coverage of the book. It's
a great follow on to what was the first and until now the
ONLY book in the area, Ben Shneiderman's _Psychology of
Computer Programming_. I really liked Tomayko and
Hazzan's inclusion of ethical issues, the international
issues, the discussion of a variety methods from the
programmer's point of view, the citation of empirical data,
the comparisons to other professions, the history of SE,
and the reflective practices idea.

My own history includes software development experiences,
participations in start ups, participation in the history
of SE, and participation in developing SE education. I
found the chapters on software development teams, software
as a product, international perspectives, the history of
SE, program comprehension and code inspections, software as
a business, and SE education particularly resonating. However, I can see that
such depth is not appropriate for a text and not
appropriate for a practitioner who wants to just see the
issues and not how the research is carried out and not what
open issues need to be followed up on.

Each topic is treated quite thoroughly in that every issue
I can think of about the topics is covered either in their
explanations or in an question that they raise. Of course,
Tomayko and Hazzan do not answer the questions completely
in the book, leaving it to the reader or instructor to have
fun finding the answers.

The biggest strength of the book is that it is so engaging
that it is hard to only skim it.

Finally, there is a discussion of the psychology and
sociology of software development teams in Chapter 3.

Moreover, I happen to know that one of these college
professor authors, namely Tomayko, has over 40 years of
industrial experience developing software, e.g., for a
large aerospace contractor. My view of this book is that
it's a joint effort in which an education expert, Hazzan,
provides reflection on the hard-knocks experiences of a
software development expert who had become an excellent
software engineering professor.

ADDENDUM 19-SEPT-2007
It's odd to see that a paid reviewer took the time to attack me for disliking the book three years ago.

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