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Coder to Developer: Book Review

I just finished reading Mike Gunderloy's book "Coder to Developer".

First off, great idea for a book.  Where was this in 1998 when I got started in this industry?

I could not agree more with the premise of the book: yeah, you can code, but what do you need to develop applications. 

The book is full of resources for developing applications.  After first discussing the need for the resource, the book takes a quick\brief look at each resource available.  I picked up a few tips to add to my bag of tips and tricks. 

The book walks you through everything you will need to know from day 1 to release to maintenance of an application.  Best part of the bug: no code!

If you have been developing applications for 5+ years, its a good read.  If you have been developing applications for 0-5 years, its a great read.  Overall, two thumbs up; nice job Mike. 

  

Posted: Jul 30 2004, 09:10 AM by gregarobinson | with 8 comment(s)

Comments

Karl said:

I troll for this topic :)

I really disliked the book, for 3 main reasons, it's too beginner, it's too microsoft-centric, and too technology centric. Of course if you are looking for a book that specifically talks about using tools to help you develop code in a .net, what are you waiting for?

A book that talks about going from coder to developer shouldn't talk much about specific technology, and even less about specific tools (let alone document them). Book felt more like those advertising pages in .net magazines that we all skip over.
# July 30, 2004 10:29 AM

Scott Galloway said:

My main worry was that it will date REALLY quickly. Many of the tools mentioned have already been superceded...
# July 30, 2004 10:39 AM

Greg Robinson said:

I was a bit dissappointed at the .net flavor too, though he states this at the start of the book. I also agree it will date quickly (too set), though the concepts will not.
# July 30, 2004 2:56 PM

matthew said:

The book is not good at all. It covers very little ground. If you've never used a source control utility before, then perhaps it will be of use, but for anyone else the book is utterly facile
# July 30, 2004 4:41 PM

Mike Gunderloy said:

Karl, sorry you disliked it. Clearly you weren't the target audience.

On the other points:
- The plan is to put out a revised edition in a couple of years, to help deal with the dating issue. Also, if I ever get a few spare moments, there will be interim updates on the codertodeveloper.com Web site.
- On the .NET centric flavor, I'm looking at ways to expand the next version to cover the Java and open source sides of the house. Nothing nailed down yet, but it's clear that this would make the book more valuable.
# August 2, 2004 12:15 PM

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Interesting post, this was really useful. thanks!

# January 16, 2012 12:36 PM

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Such a small think. ;-) But such a great idea

# January 18, 2012 12:09 PM

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Excellent post! I think you've encapsulated the mission of this blog and our challenge.

# January 20, 2012 11:22 AM
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