1. Introduction to Software Construction
Chapter 1-3

2. What Is Software Construction?

3. What we will cover?

4. Why Is Software Construction Important?
Is a large part of software development
Is the central activity in software development
With a focus on construction, the individual programmer's productivity can improve enormously
Construction's product, the source code, is often the only accurate description of the software
Construction is the only activity that's guaranteed to be done

5. The power of metaphors
The chemist Kekulé had a dream in which he saw a snake grasp its tail in its mouth.
When he awoke, he realized that a molecular structure based on a similar ring shape would account for the properties of benzene.
Further experimentation confirmed the hypothesis

6. Software Metaphors
Metaphors have the virtue of an expected behaviour that is understood by all.  
unnecessary communication and misunderstanding are minimized,
allows for quicker learning and a higher level of abstraction for the problem at hand.
A software metaphor
is more like a searchlight than a road map.
it doesn't tell you where to find the answer;
it tells you how to look for it.
A metaphor serves more as a heuristic than it does as an algorithm.
a heuristic process.
This will tell you how to look for a solution, not where to find
an algorithm process.
Gives you specific directions for a solution, and where to look to find the solution.

7. Heuristic vs. algorithm
The main difference
the level of indirection from the solution
example: Getting to someone's house
Heuristic
Find the last letter we mailed you.
Drive to the town in the return address.
When you get to town, ask someone where our house is.
Everyone knows us—someone will be glad to help you.
If you can't find anyone, call us from a public phone, and we'll come get you.
Algorithm
Gives you the instructions directly – GPS

8. Common Software Metaphors (1)
Software Penmanship: Writing Code
looks at writing software the same way that most people think that an author writes a book.  You just sit down and start writing from start all the way through to the finish.
along with starting from scratch, just as in writing a story, expect to take at least one version of your program and completely through it away.
this works great if you are working for yourself, however, most employers like to see productive work, not work you throw away.
implies a software-development process that's too simple and rigid to be healthy

9. Common Software Metaphors (2)
Software Farming: Growing a System
like planting seeds and growing crops
You design a piece, code a piece, test a piece, and add it to the system a little bit at a time. By taking small steps, you minimize the trouble you can get into at any one time
a good technique is described with a bad metaphor
its suggestion that you don't have any direct control over how the software develops.

10. Common Software Metaphors (3)
Software Oyster Farming: System Accretion
like a oyster gradually adding coats of calcium carbonate to a pebble to reduce the irritation.
make the simplest possible version of the system that will run 
it doesn't have to perform realistic manipulations on data, it doesn't have to produce realistic output
however, once the version is complete, we slowly add small working components to the system and test them.  
will eventually lead to a fully functioning system by slowly over time adding little bits of working code to make the operation smooth and pretty.

11. Common Software Metaphors (4)
Software Construction: Building Software
The image of "building" software is more useful than that of "writing" or "growing" software.
It's compatible with the idea of software accretion and provides more detailed guidance.
Building software implies various stages of planning, preparation, and execution that vary in kind and degree depending on what's being built.

12. Building houses vs. building software
In building a house, you won't try to build things you can buy already built.
You'll buy a washer and dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, and freezer.
Unless you're a mechanical wizard, you won't consider building them yourself.
You'll also buy prefabricated cabinets, counters, windows, doors, and bathroom fixtures.
If you're building a software system, you'll do the same thing.
You'll make extensive use of high-level language features rather than writing your own operating-system-level code.
You might also use prebuilt libraries of container classes, scientific functions, user interface classes, and database-manipulation classes.
It generally doesn't make sense to code things you can buy ready- made.

13. The Intellectual Toolbox
A good craftsman
knows the right tool for the job and knows how to use it correctly.
A good programmer
The software practices and techniques that work become the toolbox.  
add what worked as well as what didn't work to the toolbox to make it more effective

14. Prerequisites to Construction
Before beginning construction of a house, a builder reviews blueprints, checks that all permits have been obtained, and surveys the house's foundation.
A builder prepares for building a skyscraper one way, a housing development a different way, and a dog-house a third way.
No matter what the project, the preparation is tailored to the project's specific needs and done conscientiously before construction begins.
As with building construction, much of the success or failure of the project has already been determined before construction begins.
If the foundation hasn't been laid well or the planning is inadequate, the best you can do during construction is to keep damage to a minimum.
The importance of these steps cannot be overstated.
if this process is poorly done, we will still be lucky if the result is even working, let alone useful

15. Emphasizing Quality At the end of the project
emphasis is on testing
In the middle of the project
emphasis is on good construction practices
At the beginning
plan for a high quality product
Your design limits the end results.
by the time you start construction, it is too late to correct a weak or faulty design.
The best we can do in construction is to recognize that the design is bad and go back and try again.  
However, this can be an very expensive proposition, but at times necessary to actually save money.

16. Cost to fix defects (1)

17. Cost to fix defects (2)

18. Problem-Definition Prerequisite
The problem definition lays the foundation for the rest of the programming process
you need a clear statement of the problem before you can even think of a solution
the problem definition must also be general enough that it does not presuppose a solution
the definition should be in the user's language and from the user's point of view
the solution may turn out to be something that is not related to computers at all

19. The penalty for failing to define the problem

20. Requirements Prerequisite
Ensure :
The user's needs are driving the system, not the programmers
System scope is agreed upon
Minimal changes will be needed after construction begins
since requirements are never stable:
use the checklist on pages of your text.
make sure that the cost of changes is understood
establish a good "change control" procedure
use an approach that accommodates changes
lastly you can always kill the project.

26. Without good requirements
you can have the right general problem but miss the mark on specific aspects of the problem

27. Architecture Prerequisite
Buy versus build (market research)
System architecture
why was a particular architecture chosen?
what things did we consider when we made our choices? (Cover your own butt)
Major data structures
Functionality
Key algorithms that are present in the user requirements
User interface
Hardware requirements
Nonfunctional
Error processing
Robustness
Over engineering
Fault tolerance
Performance
usually means the average response time, which is system dependant
Strategy to handle changes

28. Without good software architecture
you may have the right problem but the wrong solution. It may be impossible to have successful construction

34. Key Construction Decisions
Choice of Programming Language
Programming Conventions
Your Location on the Technology Wave
Selection of Major Construction Practices

35. Choice of Programming Language

36. Programming Conventions
Allows for more productive coding between programmers on projects, as it provides a common platform from which the system is built.
Before construction begins, spell out the programming conventions you'll use. Coding-convention details are at such a level of precision that they're nearly impossible to retrofit into software after it's written.

37. Your Location on the Technology Wave
Programmers who program "in" a language
limit their thoughts to constructs that the language directly supports.
If the language tools are primitive, the programmer's thoughts will also be primitive.
Programmers who program "into" a language
first decide what thoughts they want to express, and then they determine how to express those thoughts using the tools provided by their specific language.
Most of the important programming principles depend not on specific languages but on the way you use them

38. Selection of Major Construction Practices