Book Review: Raj Samani

Raj Samani wrote the following review on Amazon.co.uk:

A Call to Action?

I really enjoyed this book, but not solely because of the message the author delivers - in terms of the poor quality of software we the consumer are forced to accept, but more in terms of the manner in which his argument is made.

The software industry is unlike any other industry, with no true comparables. It would therefore ordinarily be impossible to say look at industry x, they did solution y - so we should replicate that in its entirety. Rather, what the author did was to break down the many intricacies of the industry and found comparables there. For example, the early example regarding the manner in which portland cement was created would ordinarily have one assuming it has no correlation whatsoever with software. Any attempt to link this back would ordinarily have proved clumsy, yet the author does link it back effeciently and with consumate ease. This achieves two things, firstly it breaks the problem down without over burdening the reader with convulated descriptions, but also I particularly enjoyed a tour through history, and learning something new.

Such examples are littered throughout the book, including but not limited to the fight for standardisation - in screws!!!

Although the description of the legal framework did leave the mind to wander elsewhere, it is incredibly harsh to fault the author for this area to be, shall we say 'a little dry'.

I did find myself disagreeing on some minor points, but this was not related to facts merely a difference of opinion. Subsequently I would strongly urge one and all to not only read this, but more importantly make an attempt to demand better quality code from the software companies.

Make sure you read this so you can fully appreciate the magnitude of the problem. Thereafter treat this a vital tool in your arsenal, in the call to action - in the demand for better software.

Thank you for the wonderful review, Raj.