[Book Review] Code Reading : The Open Source Perspective

Code Reading : The Open Source Perspective:

Source code reading is an activity meant to provide:

1. Insight into the design of a system
2. Relevant information for reuse of parts of a system (extension, modification, reuse of a systems aspects)
3. Debugging info on a system
4. Re-factoring and maintainance of a system.
5. Reverse Engineering of a system

The book could be reorganized for accessibility-at-a-glance. Thereby reducing the need to go through it entirely. Focus of the book can be made more action-oriented and rationale oriented.

However there is  an Appendix of maxims from the book chapters.I really didn't feel upto reading the book in its entirety.
So I confined myself to the maxims. These are not directly usable off-the-shelf.
They could be made more action oriented without being too generic or too specific.

Some reflection on the maxims alone helped to get insight into the Where, What, How and Why of code reading.

[BookReview] Why Programs Fail by Andreas Zeller

[BookReview] Hacking Firefox - More than 150 Hacks, Mods and Customizations

Simple easy-to-use how-to full of tips-n-tricks for automating, configuring and customizing firefox to your specific needs.
Table of Contents is good with 2 versions - At-A-Glance and Detailed so you can just scan it for your current needs without having to go through the entire book/index.
Gives enough background info to get you started and understand how firefox works.
This approach helps you tweak it just so.

[Book Review] Apprenticeship Patterns - Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman

First off - A Huge "Thank-You":
To both of Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, for writing this Jewel-of-a-Book:
"Apprenticeship Patterns - Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman"
I Especially loved the long snaking road set in an emerald green landscape. "A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever"

It was the missing view of the jig-saw puzzle.A birds eye-view of a completed jig-saw puzzle.
The beauty of it - everything fitting in perfectly.

I'd been regularly using some of the patterns for as long as I can remember. Study The Classics and quite a few others. But somewhere there was a gnawing thought - That I was missing something.
It's been a long and wearying quest - "There's gotta be a better way".

Until I found this book:  
"Apprenticeship Patterns - Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman"
It was like an Emerald Oasis emerging from the burning sands (almost seemed like a mirage at first)