Creating Effective Software: Computer Program Design Using the Jackson Methodology

When Watergate broke, Woodward and Bernstein were told to follow the money. For every programmer, it is "follow the data!" The essence of program design is to write software with ease. This book shows an effective method of writing software. The Jackson methodology was originally written for COBOL. What does COBOL have to do with our modern programming environment? Streams! COBOL was originally written for an environment where a stack of punched cards was transformed into another stack of punched cards, or a printout. Well, what is a stack of cards? It's a stream of data! What do we have today? Steams upon streams upon streams of data! This book teaches the reader how to think in terms of streams. Once the data is understood and diagrammed, the program follows with ease. Data comes in sequence, selection, and iteration. Executable operations (not necessarily individual lines of code) are allocated along the data's stream path diagram. The program is then coded according to the resulting diagram. In my own experience, I have solved problems that others literally said were impossible using JSP. I have lost this book once, and I hope I never do that again. So just follow the data and write good code, OK? Chapters: 1: What is program design? 2: The basic methodology (and how to do it) 3: Some simple programs 4: Good and bad data 5: Handling unpredictable data errors and situations 6: Merging multiple sets of input data (the collating technique) 7: More complex programming problems 8: Jackson and other techniques 9: Jackson and technology 10: Testing 11: Jackson and system design 12: Coding considerations 13: Implementation of the Jackson methodology 14: The future of the Jackson methodology From inside the front cover (nice and concise diagram): Requirement Specification -> Structure Problem Logic -> Structure Program Logic -> Allocate Program Operations -> Code and Compile -> Program <br />"Methodology: complete, precise sequence of design procedures enforces exact correspondence between program and problem. Procedures resolve simplest or most complex design problems and insure accurate and consistent results."

King's step-by-step description of the Jackson Program design method is the clearest such description I've encountered. This book should be required reading for all actual and would-be computer programmers. The technique covered can be used in all programming environments and builds a strong basis for solving all types of programming problems. King's writing style renders a difficult subject fascinating and amusing. This book should be on all software engineers' and programmers' bookshelves.