Object-Oriented Software Construction (Book/CD-ROM) (Prentice-hall International Series in Computer Science)

What if C++ didn't win over ? Would it be a better world ? You can ponder these questions over Bertrand Meyer's tome. This is not your typical manual - the perspective is wide and the style lofty, with references to classical literature. The subject - Object Oriented Programming and its incarnation, the Eiffel programming language. While C++ is a bastard conceived by C raping Simula, Eiffel is more purebred.The first few chapters explain OOP concepts in a language-independent way. This part may seem redundant for today's developer (referential equality etc.), but bear in mind that the book was first published in the eighties, when the concepts weren't part of mainstream yet. The rest of the book deals with the Eiffel language and its unique features such as Design by Contract, Multiple Inheritance, SCOOP the multithreading model, and Eiffel Studio IDE. The books concludes with comparing Eiffel to other major programming languages.As the language itself the book is very coherent and explains each part in context. e.g. how the functionality of Exceptions was determined by the Design by Contract. I beg to differ with author's assertion that Multiple Inheritance is a viable way for software reusability, but at least Eiffel implement them in a consistent way, and this is properly illustrated in the book. The book is both dated, as the programming landscape and Eiffel itself have evolved since, and very current, as many concepts it pioneered have gained traction recently - witness Design by Contract in C# or Ada; genericity in C#; or SCOOP principles reinvented by the Actor concurrency model. Eiffel did not attain the fame comparable to C++ or Java, but its influence is pervasive.

This is the best textbook on object technology. I now understand the value of the object-oriented method and use it in my job as a computer programmer. I am a big fan of Bertrand Meyer. My favorite programming language is now Eiffel. Although not a native English speaker, Bertrand Meyer's mastery of English is perfect. I look forward to his next books.

Good condition. No CD-Rom included

2e 3APR1997 pp.1296 31.8mm pbk & CD-ROM IDE/Compiler for Windows 95 & NT.It is much more expansive in explanations with more details of concurrancy etc than the much smaller 1st edition but that is more concise if you are familiar with the consepts.od discrete mathematics. I have it (2nd ed.) free from the authors web site. There were plans for a 3rd edition but the comments are now closed. His innovation is assertions which are to some extent now in C++ and Ada 12 so to most respects the Ada environment would be a prefered development environment and the reviewer who proposed to wholly move over to Eiffel would now prefer to move over to the latest version of Ada.

The best path to learn OO

heavy going, goes deep into theory, still the best for uni level

In my opinion this book is a theoretical academic rant on the subject. I am an experienced software analyst, designer and developer but relatively new to OO design. I was looking for something that would give me some practical guidelines and tips on OO design (identify classes etc) with some examples. I trawled the first 150 pages or so .... not a single decent practical constructive example ... lots of theory, terminology and physiological reflection though. This book is probably interesting if you are an academic wanting reflect and theorise on OO approach ... but if you want to get some work done!!!!.I'm writhing this review mainly because I bought this book based on the other reviews. I was not able to see inside the book before purchase ... now I see why. Needless to say I intent to try return it.

Object-oriented Software ConstructionBertrand MeyerThis is a detailed book on the motivation and correct application of object orientation. Unlike other books I have read on the subject, this book contains a lot of information that will be of interest even to people who already consider themselves “experts” at writing object-oriented software.The book is aimed at experienced developers who are not OO programmers, but would like to understand and get into this area. It is also aimed at intermediate programmers, who want a more rigorous approach or who want to broaden their horizons with techniques they may not have discovered.The reader will learn design principles which are very nicely highlighted in blue boxes for easy skimming. There is not a great deal on design patterns, UML and refactoring, but the book is otherwise very complete and talks about the issues surrounding OO as well.The book uses Eiffel as its notation, which is a pleasant language to read, and will be a refreshing change to programmers using C++ or Java, since it is a very complete language that introduces new concepts not implemented so fully in either C++, Smalltalk or Java. The book talks a lot about language design, which I personally found very interesting, and reasons why the various language design choices have been taken in Eiffel, and why the alternatives are inferior.There is also a caveat here: Bertrand Meyer has a hidden agenda in promoting Eiffel, however for such an interesting and well argued book, this is forgivable. If you own only one book on OO, own this one.Calum Grant