"Patrick is a pragmatist with a purist's knowledge. He has a deep understanding of what 'smells' right, and he knows when and how to find the right balance to get the job done. This philosophy of balanced 'pure pragmatism' pervades this book and makes it useful."
—from the foreword by Scott Hanselman, Author of ComputerZen Blog, www.computerzen.com; Senior Program Manager, Developer Division, Microsoft Corporation

Writing code is rewarding, but writing high-quality code, on time and at the lowest possible cost, is what makes a software project successful. As the role of a professional developer has evolved and taken on additional responsibilities, it is now necessary to work in concert with a team in order to improve both the process and final results of a software project. This unique book introduces a set of concrete best practices and construction techniques that can be applied to the development process and to actual code construction, so that you can confidently solve business problems rather than deal solely with pure coding tasks.

Patrick Cauldwell understands that it is no longer sufficient to just write software that solves a problem; it must also be fast, scalable, reliable, and easy to use. In this reference, he explains how to build software that is of high quality at a lower cost and shares with you the practical steps you must take in order to transition from software engineer to technical lead.

What you will learn from this book

• Practical steps you can take to combine different developmental philosophies, processes, and construction techniques into a unified approach to software

• Methods for deciding which parts of a project you need to write yourself versus what you can buy or reuse

• Tools and processes you can employ to improve source code quality and maintainability

• How to create, run, organize, and measure tests, and then make them more useful to developers and testers

• Ways that programming by contract can make your code easier for developers to understand and use

• Recommended techniques for handling errors in your code that will make your application easier to debug and support

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced software developers who are looking to improve their development skill set and bring a higher level of discipline to a project.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think. Written by programmers for programmers, they provide a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

About the Author
Patrick Cauldwell somehow found his way to a career in software despite earning a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies. From a work-study job in the student computer lab at college through early jobs in quality assurance and localization, and finally into full-time software engineering, Patrick has always been interested in what makes computers tick. He’s worked in a wide range of software operations, from very large projects at Intel to a very small start-up to a consulting job in the midst of the .COM boom.