Books, Web Sites and Tools for Software Technology

If you are a developer...

If you are a project manager...

If you are a software architect...

If you are a tester...

If you are a methodologist...

If you are in deployment support...

If you are an executive...

If you are an usability designer...

If you are a developer...

  1. Essential
    1. Software Craftsmanship by Pete McBreen
    2. Design Patterns by Gamma et. al.
    3. Refactoring by Martin Fowler
    4. The Eclipse IDE - www.eclipse.org (tool for Java, C++ and C development)
  2. Recommended
    1. Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck
    2. UML Distilled by Martin Fowler and Kendall Scott
    3. Wiki about Testing Frameworks (web page)
    4. No Silver Bullet II by Jeff Prothero
    5. Antipatterns by William J. Brown et. al.
    6. JUnit Unit Testing Framework - www.junit.org (tool for Java)
    7. XML Tutorial (web page)
    8. Test Driven Development ($CA) by Kent Beck
    9. HackNot - www.hacknot.info (web page) (skeptical software developers)
  3. Supplemental
    1. The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Allan Cooper (yes this is a software book!)
    2. Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn
    3. Java in Practice by Nigel Warren
    4. Effective Java Programming Language Guide by Joshua Bloch
    5. Kent Beck's Original Testing Framework Paper (web page) (Smalltalk examples)
    6. No Silver Bullet by Frederick Brooks (web page)
    7. Official Unified Modelling Language Site - www.uml.org (web site)
    8. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
    9. Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture by Martin Fowler et. al.
    10. The Software Construction Analogy is Broken by Mishkin Berteig
    11. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman (and this isn't a software book, but a good read anyway!)
    12. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work

If you are a project manager...

  1. Essential
    1. Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn
    2. The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
    3. Object Solutions by Grady Booch
    4. No Silver Bullet II by Jeff Prothero
    5. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
    6. The Software Construction Analogy is Broken by Mishkin Berteig
    7. Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle
    8. Introduction to Agile Work by Mishkin Berteig
  2. Recommended
    1. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by the PMI
    2. Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck
    3. Antipatterns in Project Management by William J. Brown et. al.
    4. The Capability Maturity Model for Software by the Software Engineering Institute (web site)
    5. Agile & Iterative Development A Manager's Guide by Craig Larman
    6. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work
  3. Supplemental
    1. Official Unified Modelling Language Site - www.uml.org (web site)
    2. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (web pages) (yes this is about software projects!)
    3. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (book) (has more than the web pages)
    4. Antipatterns by William J. Brown et. al. (software development focus)

If you are a software architect...

  1. Essential
    1. Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture by Martin Fowler
    2. No Silver Bullet II by Jeff Prothero
    3. Antipatterns by William J. Brown et. al.
    4. The Software Construction Analogy is Broken by Mishkin Berteig
  2. Recommended
    1. Official Unified Modelling Language Site - www.uml.org (web site)
    2. World Wide Institute of Software Architects - www.wwisa.org (web site)
    3. XML Tutorial (web page)
  3. Supplemental
    1. Extreme Programming Examined by Giancarlo Succi, et. al.
    2. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (web pages) (yes this is about software projects!)
    3. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (book) (has more than the web pages)
    4. Software Craftsmanship by Pete McBreen
    5. The Capability Maturity Model for Software by the Software Engineering Institute (web site)
    6. An Introduction to Software Architecture (web site)
    7. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

If you are a tester...

  1. Essential
    1. Wiki about Testing Frameworks (web page)
  2. Recommended
    1. Kent Beck's Original Testing Framework Paper (web page) (Smalltalk examples)
    2. XML Tutorial (web page)
    3. Test Driven Development ($CA) by Kent Beck
    4. Introduction to Agile Work by Mishkin Berteig
    5. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work
  3. Supplemental
    1. Antipatterns by William J. Brown et. al.
    2. JUnit Unit Testing Framework - www.junit.org (tool for Java)
    3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

If you are a methodologist...

  1. Essential
    1. Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn
    2. Object Solutions by Grady Booch
    3. The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction by Philippe Krutchen
    4. The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
    5. No Silver Bullet II by Jeff Prothero
    6. The Capability Maturity Model for Software by the Software Engineering Institute (web site)
    7. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
    8. The Software Construction Analogy is Broken by Mishkin Berteig
    9. Introduction to Agile Work by Mishkin Berteig
    10. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work
  2. Recommended
    1. No Silver Bullet by Frederick Brooks (web page)
    2. Agile Alliance (web site)
    3. Official Unified Modelling Language Site - www.uml.org (web site)
    4. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (web pages) (yes this is about software projects!)
    5. The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond (book) (has more than the web pages)
    6. Antipatterns by William J. Brown et. al.
    7. Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle
    8. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
  3. Supplemental
    1. Software Craftsmanship by Pete McBreen
    2. Antipatterns in Project Management by William J. Brown et. al.

If you are in deployment support...

  1. Essential
    1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  2. Recommended
    1. XML Tutorial (web page)
  3. Supplemental

If you are an executive...

  1. Essential
    1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
    2. Introduction to Agile Work by Mishkin Berteig
    3. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
    4. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
  2. Recommended
    1. Agile Software Development by Alistair Cockburn (first few chapters only)
    2. The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
    3. The Capability Maturity Model for Software by the Software Engineering Institute (web site)
    4. The Software Construction Analogy is Broken by Mishkin Berteig
  3. Supplemental
    1. Software Craftsmanship by Pete McBreen
    2. Agile & Iterative Development A Manager's Guide by Craig Larman
    3. Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle
    4. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work

If you are a usability designer...

  1. Essential
    1. The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Allan Cooper (yes this is a software book!)
    2. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman (and this isn't a software book, but essential anyway!)
  2. Recommended
  3. Supplemental
    1. Agile Work Cheat Sheet[pdf] by Mishkin Berteig - a one-page PDF that outlines the axioms, disciplines, practices and roles of Agile Work

This page has been brought to you by Mishkin Berteig