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Joel on Software by Joel Spolsky

 
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<pre>Author/s : Joel Spolsky
Publisher : Apress
Category : Project management, Process and Best Practices
Review by : Jeanne Boyarsky
Rating : 7 horseshoes
</pre>
Parts of "Joel on Software" get a 10 and other things about it get a 6. Since there were enough "other things" to interfere with reading, I give the book a 7.

What I liked:
1) There were many good points throughout the book. In particular, the "Joel test" for how to identify whether you are on a functioning team/project.
2) The book was entertaining and easy to read.

What I didn't like:
1) There were tons of footnotes with long links, but I can't find the links on joelonsoftware.com. Does that mean I am supposed to type them in?
2) Some essays make more sense on a blog than in a book. For example, one starts with the fact that the website was down last Friday.
3) There is a lot of repetition between essays. This gives me the feeling that a bunch of blog entries were thrown together with little editing.
4) The book was copyrighted in 2004, but contained essays on the current state of .NET in 2000. This feels very dated now since .NET has since been released.
5) There are way too many plugs for Joel's company. While this is rampant on his blog, I feel that a book should have less advertising.

If you like reading Joel's blog, you will probably enjoy the book. However, if you like reading Joel's blog, you've already read much of this. My expectations exceed the actual book.


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More info at Amazon.co.uk
 
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