Customer Reviews

Code Complete

5 star:		(112)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are a programmer, get this book ASAP! This will make you a better programmer and give you guidence for continual improvement. This is a great book!

The only bad thing about this book is that it is a little outdated (goes up to C language; does not mention C++ or Java), but I think Code Complete 2 is coming out soon (June 2004).

I am not jet finished reading this book, so maybe later I shall have some additional comments. The book is very old (copyright 1993), but it is valuable asset for professional programmer.
This book is the best example of the rule "the more you know the better is your benefit of reading a book". For example, although book does not deal with object oriented programming (as far as I read till now), even if you are professinal programmer who is in object programming you will get something that you very probably missed - a lot of important and fine details that will help you be a better programmer in object world. It is very hard to explain the profit you get with this book, but it is: you get your knowledge of coding polished to the maximum.
To return to the example of OOP (object oriented programming) this book will tell you about the cohesion of your methods (the book calls them traditional names, routines) and sorts of coupling; everything is the pure ground for OOP but from the perspective of traditional programming; even in OOP books you cannot find easily such explanations, and that done in traditional programming.
If you are a beginner, this book will show you how to name the routines and variables, will show you that statistically short routines of say 20 lines are more prone to errors per line of code than routines of 100 lines! Anyway, I do not want to spoil the pleasure of reading the book: don't expect too much from it, but if you are a brilliant programmer who appreciate precision and polishing of your knowledge, you will be on a right track if you choose this book.

This is a true must have. This is a true must read. It is already quite old but still fresh and up to date to our everyday problems.

As the other reviewers have overwhelmingly suggested, this is a solid book. It dives into sufficient detail, but doesn't bog the reader down with useless technicalities. This book is readable and well organized, making it a great reference or learning manual, which are two entities that very rarely exist together. It provides examples to illustrate the respective topics and includes an exhaustive bibliography for those who crave something extra.

This book is a good buy.

There have already been over 130 reviews on this book, what can I add?

All I can do is repeat the good reviews that have already been made. This book is wonderful! It is one of the few books that I would say are essential read for anyone who calls themself a programmer! (It would be nice if some managers would take the time to read it also)

This book is old, but yet it is not out of date! The advise it gives is timeless. Oh how much better the worlds codebases would be if more programmers were to read this book! Good job Mr. McConnell.

Every serious programmer, or at least the one who wants to become one should read this book.

Book is supported with structured programming examples (Ada,C,Pascal), but the underlying principles that it is trying to present are as contemoporary as always.

I started my career as a programmer. As a novice I got to work on some (other people's) pretty crappy code that kept me up very long at night, and costed me a great deal of stress. Learning from that frustrating experience I asked myself - what is a good programming, and what would it take to learn how to be a great programmer/developer.
I discovered Steve McConnel's book, and it helped me a lot in getting there. It remained one of the milestones of my career.

This book will teach you a lot. It will show you a bad way to code, and the good way to do it. It will give you a great coding tips, and it will show you some, as the author calls them, "coding horrors". Moreover, it will tell you some great 80/20 rules that should help you with debugging, testing and refactoring focus.
It will definitely change you as a programmer - a lot. Do I need to say again that every serious programmer should read this book.

The only thing that I could wish for would be a reflection on
Object-Oriented programming and its good vs. bad practices.

There is no other work to compete with McConnell's Code Complete. Nearly unreadable end to end, it is an excellent reference for jr and mid level developers and managers to help understand the nuace of what programming really is.

This book is dated, but still very worthwhile!

The mistake most coders make is that they jump into programming, don't!

This book shows you how to develop good code, this book is great!

Code Complete -- a book not about how to get it done, but more about what to adopt and why. The author, Steve McConnell, has compiled this book, out of the experiences of others as well as of himself, which talks about different tips which could be utilized during a software project.

A very informative book, with many practices, when exploited would result in the construction of a high quality product. What one would appreciate about the book is that, it is written from a perspective of a programmer, who has committed mistakes, not a hot shot guy, who 'knows-it-all'. One also would value the last couple of chapters, which tell one how a programmer should adapt. Though this book has its boring bits, it is highly useful for a beginner or an expert.

Code Complete is a book for every beginner-intermediate level programmer. This book is for people serious about programming. This book is not based on syntask of any language but it more like tells you how to be a good programmer. It teaches you how to write better code. Steve McConnell has done a great job by compiling such enormous amounts of techniques, practices you can use to be a better programmer. Surely all of it has been compiled from years of experience. For a beginner it will be a huge leap towards being a professional. This book focses on code construction. The last few chapters tell us how our own character effects our code and how focusing on our personal character we can be better programmers. On the other side this book is about 800 pages long. It gets pretty dull and dry in the middle, but most of it is valuable stuff. It might be hard to finish the book but once you have you can give a pat on your own back for doing a great job.