Top 100 Best Software Engineering Books, Ever

The Full List

This article contains a top 100 of the best software engineering books.

I have created this list using four different criteria:

number of Amazon reviews;
average Amazon rating;
number of Google hits;
Jolt awards.

Please refer to the second part of this article to find out how the calculations were performed.

The Top 100 List

#	Author(s) / Title	Year	ISBN13	Jolt	sum	avg
1	Steve McConnell Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction (2nd Edition)	2004	978-0735619678	**	243	4.72
2	Elisabeth Freeman, etc. Head First Design Patterns	2004	978-0596007126	**	237	4.63
3	Steve McConnell Rapid Development	2003	978-0072850604	**	112	4.74
4	Erich Gamma Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software	1994	978-0201633610	*	244	4.55
5	Bruce Schneier Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code (2nd Edition)	1995	978-0471128458	*	99	4.61
6	Robert C. Martin Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns and Practices	2002	978-0135974445	**	31	4.77
7	Joel Spolsky Joel on Software	2004	978-1590593899	*	48	4.71
8	Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (2nd Edition)	1999	978-0932633439		76	4.79
9	Frederick P. Brooks The Mythical Man-Month, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)	1995	978-0201835953		124	4.54
10	Martin Fowler Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code	1999	978-0201485677		138	4.54
11	Mike Cohn Agile Estimating and Planning	2005	978-0131479418		43	4.74
12	Alistair Cockburn Writing Effective Use Cases	2000	978-0201702255	*	45	4.62
13	Bertrand Meyer Object-Oriented Software Construction (2nd Edition)	2000	978-0136291558	**	43	4.47
14	Steve McConnell Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art	2006	978-0735605350	*	31	4.74
15	Mike Cohn User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development	2004	978-0321205681		37	4.76
16	Donald E. Knuth The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-3 Boxed Set (2nd Edition)	1998	978-0201485417		109	4.39
17	Martin Fowler Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture	2002	978-0321127426	*	54	4.46
18	Jeffrey Friedl Mastering Regular Expressions	2006	978-0596528126		122	4.48
19	Andrew Hunt, David Thomas The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master	1999	978-0201616224		127	4.42
20	Karl E. Wiegers Software Requirements (2nd Edition)	2003	978-0735618794	*	44	4.48
21	Craig Larman Applying UML and Patterns (3rd Edition)	2004	978-0131489066		178	4.37
22	Alistair Cockburn Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game (2nd Edition)	2006	978-0321482754	**	28	4.46
23	Gary McGraw Software Security: Building Security In	2006	978-0321356703		19	4.95
24	Gregor Hohpe, Bobby Woolf Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions	2003	978-0321200686		31	4.74
25	Tom DeMarco The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management	1997	978-0932633392	*	52	4.42
26	Craig Larman Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide	2003	978-0131111554		46	4.52
27	Eric A. Marks, Michael Bell Service-Oriented Architecture: A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology	2006	978-0471768944		33	4.45
28	Thomas H. Cormen, etc. Introduction to Algorithms, Second Edition	2001	978-0070131514		167	4.08
29	Thomas Erl Service-Oriented Architecture: A Field Guide to Integrating XML and Web Services	2004	978-0131428980		32	4.59
30	Martin Fowler UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language (3rd Edition)	2003	978-0321193681	*	139	3.95
31	Kent Beck Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change (2nd Edition)	2004	978-0321278654	*	126	3.98
32	Alan Shalloway, James Trott Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design (2nd Edition)	2004	978-0321247148		109	4.33
33	Grady Booch, etc. Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications (3rd Edition)	2007	978-0201895513	**	37	3.95
34	Jim Highsmith Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products	2004	978-0321219770		20	4.80
35	Scott Berkun Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management	2008	978-0596517717		55	4.53
36	Jon Bentley Programming Pearls (2nd Edition)	1999	978-0201657883		28	4.50
37	Paul Duvall, etc. Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk	2007	978-0321336385	**	13	4.85
38	Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene Applied Software Project Management	2005	978-0596009489		15	5.00
39	Clemens Szyperski Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented Programming	1997	978-0201178883	**	13	4.69
40	Arthur J. Riel Object-Oriented Design Heuristics	1996	978-0201633856		27	4.78
41	Thomas Erl SOA Principles of Service Design	2007	978-0132344821		24	4.58
42	Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit	2003	978-0321150783	*	35	4.57
43	Ken Schwaber Agile Project Management with Scrum	2004	978-0735619937		30	4.47
44	Ken Schwaber, Mike Beedle Agile Software Development with Scrum	2001	978-0130676344		35	4.51
45	Joshua Kerievsky Refactoring to Patterns	2004	978-0321213358	*	42	4.10
46	Alistair Cockburn Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams	2004	978-0201699470		12	4.75
47	Steve McConnell Software Project Survival Guide	1997	978-1572316218		63	4.33
48	Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects	2003	978-0932633606	**	23	4.52
49	Venkat Subramaniam, Andy Hunt Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World	2005	978-0974514086	*	26	4.58
50	Kathy Schwalbe Information Technology Project Management	2007	978-1423901457		27	4.63
51	Randall Hyde Write Great Code: Volume 1: Understanding the Machine	2004	978-1593270032		17	4.82
52	Scott Rosenberg Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software	2007	978-1400082476		59	3.78
53	Cem Kaner, etc. Lessons Learned in Software Testing	2001	978-0471081128		35	4.54
54	Andy Oram, Greg Wilson Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think	2007	978-0596510046	**	27	3.81
55	Luke Hohmann Beyond Software Architecture: Creating and Sustaining Winning Solutions	2003	978-0201775945		27	4.56
56	Grady Booch Unified Modeling Language User Guide, The (2nd Edition)	2005	978-0321267979		81	3.30
57	Karl Fogel Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project	2005	978-0596007591	*	13	4.85
58	Michael Feathers Working Effectively with Legacy Code	2004	978-0131177055		21	4.86
59	Kent Beck Test Driven Development: By Example	2002	978-0321146533	*	27	4.11
60	Per Kroll, Philippe Kruchten The Rational Unified Process Made Easy: A Practitioner's Guide to the RUP	2003	978-0321166098		14	4.79
61	Thomas Erl Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design	2005	978-0131858589		60	4.15
62	Cem Kaner, etc. Testing Computer Software (2nd Edition)	1999	978-0471358466		35	4.34
63	Frank Buschmann, etc. Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 1: A System of Patterns	1996	978-0471958697	*	16	4.50
64	Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition	1996	978-0262011532		157	3.44
65	Dan Pilone UML 2.0 in a Nutshell	2005	978-0596007959		14	4.57
66	Brett D. McLaughlin, etc. Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design	2006	978-0596008673	**	35	3.77
67	Johanna Rothman Manage It!: Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management	2007	978-0978739249	*	7	5.00
68	James Shore, Shane Warden The Art of Agile Development	2007	978-0596527679		11	4.64
69	Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike The Practice of Programming	1999	978-0201615869		49	3.96
70	Ron Jeffries, etc. Extreme Programming Installed	2000	978-0201708424		31	4.35
71	Scott W. Ambler, Pramodkumar J. Sadalage Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design	2006	978-0321293534	*	19	4.42
72	Jared Richardson, William Gwaltney Ship it! A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects	2005	978-0974514048		24	4.46
73	Greg Hoglund, Gary McGraw Exploiting Software: How to Break Code	2004	978-0201786958		27	4.41
74	Michael Nygard Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software	2007	978-0978739218	*	17	4.47
75	Edward Yourdon Death March (2nd Edition)	2003	978-0131436350		68	3.82
76	Stephen P. Berczuk, etc. Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration	2003	978-0201741179		23	4.57
77	Elfriede Dustin, etc. Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management, and Performance	1999	978-0201432879		40	4.55
78	Donald C. Gause, Gerald M. Weinberg Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design	1989	978-0932633132		25	4.72
79	Tom Gilb Competitive Engineering	2005	978-0750665070		13	4.92
80	David J. Agans Debugging	2006	978-0814474570		15	4.80
81	Eldad Eilam Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering	2005	978-0764574818		14	4.64
82	Robert L. Glass Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering	2002	978-0321117427		23	4.30
83	Martin Fowler Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models	1996	978-0201895421		15	4.40
84	Matt Weisfeld The Object-Oriented Thought Process (2nd Edition)	2003	978-0672326110		42	4.07
85	John M. Vlissides Pattern Hatching: Design Patterns Applied	1998	978-0201432930		25	4.68
86	Johanna Rothman Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management	2005	978-0976694021		24	4.38
87	Robert K. Wysocki Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme	2006	978-0470042618		26	4.35
88	Ellen Gottesdiener Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs	2002	978-0201786064		14	5.00
89	Eric Evans Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software	2003	978-0321125217		42	4.24
90	Nick Rozanski, Eóin Woods Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives	2005	978-0321112293		12	5.00
91	Peter Rob, Carlos Coronel Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management (8th Edition)	2006	978-1418835934		27	3.37
92	Robert Orfali, etc. Client/Server Survival Guide (3rd Edition)	1999	978-0471316152		43	4.40
93	Douglas Schmidt, etc. Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 2: Patterns for Concurrent and Networked Objects	2000	978-0471606956		21	4.33
94	Michael Lopp Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager	2007	978-1590598443		21	4.29
95	Paul Graham Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age	2004	978-0596006624		55	4.07
96	Philippe Kruchten The Rational Unified Process: An Introduction (3rd Edition)	2003	978-0321197702		34	3.91
97	Joel Spolsky The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky	2005	978-1590595008		22	4.14
98	James O. Coplien, Neil B. Harrison Organizational Patterns of Agile Software Development	2004	978-0131467408		13	5.00
99	Esther Derby, etc. Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great	2006	978-0977616640		17	4.53
100	Henry S. Warren Hacker's Delight	2002	978-0201914658		13	5.00

Legend

Year	= Year of Publication
Jolt **	= Jolt Winner
Jolt *	= Jolt Productivity Award
sum	= Number of reviews on Amazon
avg	= Average rating on Amazon

Scope of this List

For this Top 100 list I have included only books covering subjects found in the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). This means that I have left out books with main topics such as web design, computer science, business management and system administration. The main reason for this is that I had to limit the scope (or I would never be able to finish it).

I also excluded all books that dealt with specific technologies, such as Java, .NET, Ruby and PHP. I was only interested in the potentially timeless software engineering classics. In my opinion, technology books do not fall into that category. I did include books on project management (as project management is one of the competences in SWEBOK) but only when those books explicitly dealt with managing software development. (That's why there is no generic PMP-related material on the list.)

Finding the Books

To find all these potentially timeless classics, I checked the best-selling books in these five Amazon categories:

Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Software Engineering
Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > System Analysis & Design
Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Algorithms
Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering
Books > Computers & Internet > Project Management

After I found all best-selling software engineering books, I subsequently found many other books through the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" cross-reference feature. And that's how I finally ended up with a list of 250 books.

Note: in case of multiple editions of the same book, only the most recent edition is listed on the chart, though reviews and ratings were combined for all available editions.

Doing the Calculations

When it was time to do the calculations, I checked the number of customer reviews on Amazon, and I ranked the books according to these numbers (= a measure of quantity). I also calculated the average Amazon ratings, and I ranked the books according to these ratings (= a measure of quality). I then checked the number of Google hits for each of the books, and I ranked them accordingly (= a measure of popularity). Finally, I took the three rankings, added extra points for all winners of Jolt awards, and then re-calculated it into a final ranking. This resulted in the list you now have before you.

Note: this little project was performed in the first week of June, 2008. Current Amazon reviews and ratings might have changed since then.

I admit that the system I used has no scientific basis. Nevertheless, I think the results are quite interesting, and I'm sure the list can be of great help if you want to broaden your knowledge of the field of software engineering, in all its exciting dimensions. I suggest you start with number 1, and then slowly work your way down. It shouldn't take you more than a couple of years…