Code Complete 2; The Missing Link in Software Education

I recently bought a copy of Code Complete 2, one of the many books on software engineering that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. It focuses on a very small part of what I’ve been studying and practicing at my MSE program; software construction. 

By construction the book means the actual writing of code. It is the central part of software development since the requirements elicitation that precedes it is aimed at finding out what is to be constructed, and the testing phase that follows aims to verify the construction.

After going through the table of contents and skimming some chapters, I was amazed at why I wasn’t taught anything like this in my undergraduate Computer Science degree. In fact, I think one of the reasons why programs such as the MSE program at Carnegie Mellon exist is to fill in the deficiency of sound software engineering skills in CS undergrads. During my undergrad program, even though we had a ‘software engineering’ course, we were still not taught about basic construction techniques such as version control, peer reviews, and managing quality at the code level. I’m pretty sure this is the case for a lot of other programs out there as well.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that software engineering is still a very young field, but there is a huge gap between what is being taught in Computer Science undergraduate courses and what is required out there in the industry. I’m not sure about the statistics on how many undergrads get jobs in the industry right away, but in countries like Pakistan where research is not a priority, I’m willing to bet a majority of CS undergrad students look for jobs in the industry instead of pursuing higher studies and research.

This is exactly why programs need to prepare students for writing industry ready code. Books such as CC2 are vital tools for polishing your skills as a software engineer. I firmly believe that we would have a lot less failed projects and more happy customers if people looking to write code for a living would catch up on their reading first.