Top 51 Steve Mcconnell Quotes
#1. Be critical of classes that contain more than about seven data members. The
Steve McConnell
#2. The default movement on a software project should be in the direction of taking elements of the software away to make it simpler rather than adding elements to make it more complex.
Steve McConnell
#3. Spend your time on the 20 percent of the refactorings that provide 80 percent of the benefit.
Steve McConnell
#5. By far the most common project risks in software development are poor requirements and poor project planning, thus preparation tends to focus on improving requirements and project plans.
Steve McConnell
#6. Engineering is the application of scientific principles toward practical ends. If the engineering isn't practical, it's bad engineering.
Steve McConnell
#7. Immature testing organizations tend to have about five clean tests for every dirty test.
Steve McConnell
#8. It's better to wait for a productive programmer to become available than it is to wait for the first available programmer to become productive.
Steve McConnell
#9. A brute force solution that works is better than an elegant solution that doesn't work.
Steve McConnell
#10. The trouble with quick and dirty is that dirty remains long after quick has been forgotten.
Steve McConnell
#11. Motivation is undoubtedly the single greatest influence on how well people perform. Most productivity studies have found that motivation has a stronger influence on productivity than any other factor.
Steve McConnell
#12. A blanket attempt to avoid mistakes is the biggest mistake of all.
Steve McConnell
#13. The job of the average manager requires a shift in focus every few minutes. The job of the average software developer requires that the developer not shift focus more often than every few hours.
Steve McConnell
#14. Reduce complexity. The single most important reason to create a routine is to reduce a program's complexity. Create a routine to hide information so that you won't need to think about it.
Steve McConnell
#15. Trying to apply formal methods to all software projects is just as bad as trying to apply code-and-fix development to all projects.
Steve McConnell
#16. A good estimate is an estimate that provides a clear enough view of the project reality to allow the project leadership to make good decisions about how to control the project to hit its targets.
Steve McConnell
#17. Favor read-time convenience to write-time convenience. Code
Steve McConnell
#19. Hurrying to solve a problem is one of the most time-ineffective things you can do.
Steve McConnell
#20. complicated code is a sign that you don't understand your program well enough to make it simple.
Steve McConnell
#21. once gotos are introduced, they spread through the code like termites through a rotting house.
Steve McConnell
#22. developer testing should probably take 8 to 25 percent of the total project time.
Steve McConnell
#23. Choose your battles. If rapid development is truly top priority, don't shackle your developers by insisting on too many priorities at once.
Steve McConnell
#24. Software projects fail for one of two general reasons: the project team lacks the knowledge to conduct a software project successfully, or the project team lacks the resolve to conduct a project effectively.
Steve McConnell
#25. In my experience, you either have encapsulation and abstraction or you have neither. There is no middle ground.
Steve McConnell
#26. Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation.
Steve McConnell
#27. The only way to reduce the variability in the estimate is to reduce the variability in the project.
Steve McConnell
#28. Good code is its own best documentation. As you're about to add a comment, ask yourself, "How can I improve the code so that this comment isn't needed?" Improve the code and then document it to make it even clearer.
Steve McConnell
#29. You can do anything with stacks and iteration that you can do with recursion.
Steve McConnell
#30. There are no secrets on an successful software project. Both good and bad news must be able to move up and down the ptoject hierarchy without restriction.
Steve McConnell
#31. In software, the chain isn't as strong as its weakest link; it's as weak as all the weak links multiplied together.
Steve McConnell
#32. The primary purpose of software estimation is not to predict a project's outcome; it is to determine whether a project's targets are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to meet them.
Steve McConnell
#33. Mature testing organizations tend to have five dirty tests for every clean test.
Steve McConnell
#34. Heuristic is an algorithm in a clown suit. It's less predictable, it's more fun, and it comes without a 30-day, money-back guarantee.
Steve McConnell
#35. Good visual layout shows the logical structure of a program.
Steve McConnell
#36. developers insert an average of 1 to 3 defects per hour into their designs and 5 to 8 defects per hour into code
Steve McConnell
#37. the road to programming hell is paved with global variables,
Steve McConnell
#38. It's hard enough to find an error in your code when you're looking for it; it's even harder when you've assumed your code is error-free.
Steve McConnell
#39. Programming requires more concentration than other activities. It's the reason programmers get upset about 'quick interruptions' - such interruptions are tantamount to asking a juggler to keep three balls in the air and hold your groceries at the same time.
Steve McConnell
#40. If the derived class isn't going to adhere completely to the same interface contract defined by the base class, inheritance is not the right implementation technique. Consider containment or making a change further up the inheritance hierarchy.
Steve McConnell
#41. defect corrections have more than a 50 percent chance of being wrong the first time
Steve McConnell
#43. Classes and routines are first and foremost intellectual tools for reducing complexity. If they're not making your job simpler, they're not doing their jobs.
Steve McConnell
#44. in the vast majority of systems, efficiency isn't critical.
Steve McConnell
#45. Eighty percent of the errors are found in 20 percent of a project's classes or routines
Steve McConnell
#46. Study after study has shown that motivation probably has a larger effect on productivity and quality than any other factor
Steve McConnell
#47. A typical software project can present more opportunities to learn from mistakes than some people get in a lifetime.
Steve McConnell
#48. Be sure that the names you choose favor read-time convenience over write-time convenience.
Steve McConnell
#49. It's OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn't need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.
Steve McConnell
#50. 95% on content and the computer language remains the same.
Steve McConnell
#51. You save time when you don't need to have an awards ceremony every time a C statement does what it's supposed to. Moreover,
Steve McConnell
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