| This book doesn't tell you how to write faster code, or how
to write code with fewer memory leaks, or even how to debug
code at all. What it does tell you is how to build your
product in better ways, how to keep track of the code that
you write, and how to track the bugs in your code. Plus some
more things you'll wish you had known before starting a
project.
Practical Development Environments is a guide, a collection
of advice about real development environments for small to
medium-sized projects and groups. Each of the chapters
considers a different kind of tool - tools for tracking
versions of files, build tools, testing tools, bug-tracking
tools, tools for creating documentation, and tools for
creating packaged releases. Each chapter discusses what you
should look for in that kind of tool and what to avoid, and
also describes some good ideas, bad ideas, and annoying
experiences for each area. Specific instances of each type
of tool are described in enough detail so that you can
decide which ones you want to investigate further.
Developers want to write code, not maintain makefiles.
Writers want to write content instead of manage templates.
IT provides machines, but doesn't have time to maintain all
the different tools. Managers want the product to move
smoothly from development to release, and are interested in
tools to help this happen more often. Whether as a full-time
position or just because they are helpful, all projects have
toolsmiths: making choices about tools, installing them, and
then maintaining the tools that everyone else depends upon.
This book is especially for everyone who ends up being a
toolsmith for his or her group.
|
Biting the hand that feeds IT 
Published by: O'REILLY & ASSOCIATES