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Confessions of a Used Program Salesman by Will Tracz Recommended

ISBN: 0-201-63369-8       Publisher: Addison-Wesley       Pages: 233pp       Price: £22-50

Categories:   writing solid code     re-usable code

Reviewed by Mathew Davies in C Vu 8-2 (Jan 1996)

When I first started reading this book, I was taken aback by Mr. Tracz's use of dire puns. However, as I got further and further into the text, I began to glimpse some of the important points that were being made. The author makes some sharp observations about the real problems of getting the software re- use ball rolling, at all levels from the individual programmer (and his or her ego) to the multi-national company. He is careful to play down some of the extravagant claims that have been made about the potential benefits of re-usable software in the past, arguing that it is not a panacea for the current high price of software development and associated reliability problems, rather a step on the route to improving both.

Up until reading this book, I had never given software re-use a lot of thought. Having read it, I suspect that I have been a little naive. If you are considering writing re-usable software, using re-usable software, or managing a project that is involved with re-usable software, then you should look at this book (despite the punishing onslaught of Mr. Tracz's puns).