Design in Construction - Code Complete 2 sample chapters

I have heard of the book Code Complete mentioned a few times on blogs and on Amazon and have even read a review of it a few times. On Amazon used sellers list there is a surprisingly small amount on their and it is priced at about £20, so my guess is that once people buy the book they don't sell it.

Code complete is what I would call a Programming process or Developer book. It's not just concentrating on one language but on techniques and approaches that can apply to Programming in general. What I am trying to get at is that code complete is a book not just about writing code but looking at the other parts of the job that being a programmer entails, like designing architecture, Refactoring, Debugging. Although Code Complete 2 seems to concentrate on more programming than other books which I would put into a similar category like Ship it! Programmatic programmer etc etc.

I have read good reviews and heard good things about Code Complete and Code Complete 2 so I was interested to see if there were any sample chapters available.

it has a welcome chapter which is what you would expect, brief intro and all that

http://cc2e.com/docs/Chapter1-Welcome.pdf

It also has this Design in Construction chapter which is a whopping 51 pages and discusses designing your code before you head on in and start to create the classes

http://cc2e.com/docs/Chapter5-Design.pdf

The first five pages I felt were a bit patronising but then as the chapter starting to go onto more technical or practical stuff I found it more interesting. Having read articles and books on the subject alot of it was hearing good advice again but there were also parts which I hadn't thought about or heard before. Also seeing all the points about design did make good sense and gave a comprehensive approach to designing.

I have to admit I found the chapter very interesting and well written, it was very detailed but without too much waffle. I am very tempted to buy the book.

I like to peruse the contents of a book to try and get an inkling to see if I think it is going to be useful and I have to admit I like the look of the sections

Laying the Foundation
1 Welcome to Software Construction
2 Metaphors for a Richer Understanding of Software Development
3 Measure Twice, Cut Once: Upstream Prerequisites
4 Key Construction Decisions

Creating High Quality Code
5 Design in Construction
6 Working Classes
7 High-Quality Routines
8 Defensive Programming
9 The Pseudocode Programming Process

Variables
10 General Issues in Using Variables
11 The Power of Variable Names
12 Fundamental Data Types
13 Unusual Data Types

Statements
14 Organizing Straight-Line Code
15 Using Conditionals
16 Controlling Loops
17 Unusual Control Structures
18 Table-Driven Methods
19 General Control Issues

Code Improvements
20 The Software-Quality Landscape
21 Collaborative Construction
22 Developer Testing
23 Debugging
24 Refactoring
25 Code-Tuning Strategies
26 Code-Tuning Techniques

System Considerations
27 How Program Size Affects Construction
28 Managing Construction
29 Integration
30 Programming Tools

Software Craftsmanship
31 Layout and Style
32 Self-Documenting Code
33 Personal Character
34 Themes in Software Craftsmanship
35 Where to Find More Information