The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky

This is one of those rare computer books that you can sit down and enjoy over a capuccino and later on be able to rationally explain to non-techies why you enjoyed it. Sometimes they'll even get the jokes... This book introduced me to the writing (indirectly, via the hilarious Excel cartoon) of Rory Blyth. Higher praise I cannot sing. If you're a geek, and you know you are, then you'll enjoy this book. It's provoking, funny, and profound and you owe it to yourself to at least be informed about the many serious points that are made in its pages. The worst I can say about it is that there's not enough of Joel's own writing in here! An absolute blast. Recommended.

I've enjoyed Joel Spolsky's writing for years. His topics are always timely and interesting and I like his style of writing. So, I was intrigued when I saw The Best Software Writing I from Apress. This book contains a number of papers, blog entries, and other pieces from a variety of authors. Each piece was selected by and is introduced by Spolsky. His goal is to encourage high quality writing in our industry by presenting a collection of great examples. The resulting book is both entertaining and thought provoking. This compilation will not teach you any particular technology or technique. It won't help you pass a certification exam. What it will do is make you think about what it takes to be really great in this industry and why good technical writing is an important part of it. Highly recommended as a break from a steady diet of technical manuals. I loved it.

I agree with the reviewer who said the book can keep you awake at night (in the good sense!) because that is what the book did last night. It is very refreshing to back off from the keyboard and reflect on the broad issues and directions of our coding environment. I had not heard of Spolsky until I encountered his essay on how Microsoft has lost the API war. On a daily basis I deal with GUI standards and usability issues for browser-based Web applications. That particular essay had real value for me and I went on to read other contributions by the author. As others have noted, this book contains essays by a wide range of grizzled veterans of software development. These essays, depending on the subject, will have greater or lesser value for you. What has not been emphasized enough however, is that each contributor essay is prefaced by one by Spolsky -- each of which I found informative and entertaining. So -- when is Best Software Writing II coming out?

The blurb on the back cover reads: "At my own company, we instituted a policy: we only want to hire software developers who can write, and write well. Just try submitting a résumé to me with grammatical errors or a cover letter that reads like it was written by that guy who translates those instruction manuals for really cheap consumer electronics. I dare you." I think this is a great policy. Being able to communicate well is one of the greatest and most overlooked assets to look for in good software developers. With this book, Joel Spolsky shows us some of the best examples of good writing in the field of software. If it were just a matter of good writing style, the importance of this book would be rather limited. But its real value, besides the stylistic aspect, is the great content. Most articles are not just well written, but also very interesting, insightful or outrightly funny. Great content in a nice package. I've previously referred to Paul Graham's essay "Great Hackers", which is one of the best. My other favorites are Ken Arnold's "Style is Substance" and why the lucky stiff's introduction to the Ruby language. My only small gripe with the book is the fact that most, if not all, the material inside is already available on the net. It sure is pleasant having it all nicely collected and printed in a book, so that you can read it on the plane or at the beach, but I find it quite improbable that all good software writing can be found on the net and none in print magazines and book. Or maybe it is simply easier to obtain republishing rights for online material than it is for printed stuff? A couple of comic strips seem quite out of place, too. Apart from these minor details, a very entertaining and stimulating read. Highly recommended.

I'd already been a big fan of John Gruber, Michael Lopp, and particularly Paul Graham, so when they were appearing together in this book, it seemed like a natural buy. However, all of the content (with the exception of Spolsky's introductions) is available on the websites and weblogs of the authors. So was it really a good buy? Absolutely. Quite apart from the freedom of being able to read it anywhere, this is a wonderful volume in terms of browsability and lendability. If you have any interest in software development, marketing, management, or industry, this is a must-have.