Textbooks

There is only one required textbook for this course. However, other readings will be taken from other books as necessary and available freely online or through AU online resources. The listed books and online resources on this page are subject to frequent change and updates throughout the semester.

Book Description
Engineering Software Products Required
Title: Engineering Software Products: An Introduction to Modern Software Engineering
Author: Ian Sommerville
Purchase: Campus Store, Amazon, or Pearson
Clean Code Title: Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftmanship
Author: Robert C. Martin
Available through American University O’Reilly Safari Account
The Mythical Man Month Title: The Mythical Man-Month
Author: Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
Available through American University O’Reilly Safari Account
Managing Humans Title: Managing Humans
Author: Michael Lopp
Available through American University O’Reilly Safari Account
Smart and Gets Things Done
Title: Smart & Gets Things Done
Author: Joel Spolsky
Available through American University O’Reilly Safari Account

Other Resources

  • GitHub Student Developer Pack. A ton of free tools for students to help you develop more easily. Definitely take advantage, a lot of this stuff gets pretty expensive after you graduate!
  • Heroku for GitHub Students. One of the most useful perks for GitHub Students is Heroku deployment credits. You still need a credit card to sign up, but this perk will keep you from being charged.
  • Get free access to all developer tools from JetBrains!. You likely already have PyCharm, but this license also includes Webstorm, which is more useful for web application development. Additional links to supplementary articles and videos used throughout this course will be posted throughout the semester.