Tales from the e-Trenches: Or Why Too Much of Our Software Has Glitches

Question: Are you getting a little pained by all the software that does not seem to be working these days or at least working the way one expected? Remember the last time you hit “update” and discovered you would be busy for the next few hours — or did it just seem like days? Remember seeing the words, “Click on button to download” and there was no button?
If you ever wondered why there are so many computer updates and why it is so difficult to get today’s software to do what it is supposed to do, “Tales from the e-Trenches” will answer a lot of your questions. Unlike other sources, Judy Pagel provides the perspective from down in the trenches where software is designed and programmed. As a senior programmer and later software developer at three of the country’s larger corporations, she will take you step by step through the development of an Enterprise-wide software package. Topics include the full life cycle development, object-oriented design, Agile development, database normalization, web site design, where to get instruction, how to get a job, day to day happenings in a typical IT department, and last but not least, a few thoughts from a female perspective.
And important, she promises to do it so that the reasons are understandable even if you have no background whatsoever in programming or computers. Parents will truly appreciate being able to accurately assess where their kids’ IT progress stands. Students will get loads of information on what it takes to major in IT. Stakeholders in IT projects within corporations and their bosses will finally find out what those guys in IT are doing every day.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Too Many Glitches in our Software
Chapter 2: Intro to Programming
Chapter 3: Too Many Languages
Chapter 4: Learning a Language
Chapter 5: Getting That IT Job
Chapter 6: Initial Design: The Waterfall Method
Chapter 7: Code Design for Object–Oriented Languages
Chapter 8: IT Departments: A View from the Inside
Chapter 9: Enterprise Coding 
Chapter 10: Agile — A Better Way to Develop Software
Chapter 11: Databases to Store your Data
Chapter 12: Web Sites
Chapter 13: What About Women
Chapter 14: Review — Why Too Much of our Software Has Glitches
Chapter 15: Summary and Conclusions
Postscript for Students 1: H–1B Facts
Postscript for Students 2: Careers in Computer Science
Postscript for Students 3: Software Development