Software Creativity Search Contest
Welcome to the information page for the Software Creativity Search contest, sponsored by developer.* Books, publishers of Software Creativity 2.0, by Robert L. Glass. On this page we will describe the reason for the contest and how it works, but even if you're not in a position to enter the contest, please do scroll down the page and read the entries, which should give you an idea why we're so excited about the publication of this book.
About the Contest
To celebrate the forthcoming publication of Software Creativity 2.0, publisher developer.* Books is sponsoring a contest for people who have read or owned (or still own) the scarce first edition of Software Creativity. The three best stories will be chosen and the winners will receive free copies of both Software Creativity 2.0 and Software Conflict 2.0 signed by author Robert L. Glass and a free one year subscription to Glass's long running newsletter The Software Practitioner.
Anyone wishing to enter the contest should send to developer.* Books the story of his or her experience with Software Creativity. Stories could include elements such as when and how you first found out about or obtained the book, whether you bought it new or used (and how much you paid for it!), how the book affected you, and anything else you would like to share. Photos of your copy of the book are suggested but not required. The publisher will feature the stories and photos it receives on the developer.* web site at www.DeveloperDotStar.com. If you wish to enter this contest or find out more information, send an email to softwarecreativity ~AT~ developerdotstar.com.
Do you know one of those people who are just hooked on software books? You can spot them easily because they have books stacked up on the desk and overflowing off the shelves, and they always seem to be reading something. Help us find the Software Creativity owners and readers scattered around world by forwarding a link to this message, or linking to us from your blog. Your book-loving friends may just be one of our three contest winners.
Entries Received
So far we have received only two entries for the contest (we said the original edition was hard to find!), from Ben in San Francisco, California and Scott in Austin, Texas.
Here is our first entry, from Ben:
Many moons ago (about a year and a half now), during those heady days of graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (I was majoring in Software Engineering) I was taking a class in software processes taught by the inimitable Mark Paulk (of CMM - NOT CMMI fame), and we were required to select a book from a long list and to read and write a summation report on it.
For whatever reason fate brought me to choosing Software Creativity. After a few days of attempting to purchase it I finally realized that it was long out of print, but fortunately there was a copy in the library of the Software Engineering Institute, which apparently will lend books worth many hundreds of dollars to broke grad students (what a trusting organization they are!).
I didn't really know what a treat I was in for and thus, as all good students do, I waited until the last minute to begin reading. Once I finally did crack the book though, I was unable to put it down. While I didn't yet have any "real-word" software experience, I had spent the last half year listening to the academic folks CMU talk about formal methodologies, models and processes, and the prior 4 years of undergrad using no formal processes and basically cobbling everything together last minute.
While the book is titled Software Creativity, much of the book is dedicated to identifying and examining many of the fundamental dichotomies that exist between Academia/Formality vs Industry/"Ad-Hoc"ness (and why the term ad-hoc is mistakenly maligned). Robert Glass's amusing style and clever analogies really helped me to reconcile the rigor of academia with the informality of the average software development effort. The book helped me to recognize concepts and methodologies that I took for granted that required a more deep examination than I'd already given them.
Since initially reading Software Creativity I've often wondered how it could possibly have gone out of print (as many of my coworkers can attest - they've all heard my rant on it's genius) and when, and if, it would ever come back. I'm so incredibly excited that it is being reprinted that I'm going to buy a few copies so that I can circulate them amongst my friends and give them the same incredible experience that I had the first, and still only, time I read this amazing book! (I might have been a poor grad student...but I was an honest one - the book was returned in a timely fashion!)
—Ben, San Francisco, CA
Here is our second entry, from Scott:
In order to find a copy of the first edition of Software Creativity, I searched quite thoroughly through book sellers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, BestBookbuys.com) and found mostly that it was out of print. I then went to the University of Texas Library and was able to find a fairly worn copy on the shelf. The book had quite a history of being checked out. I checked it out for my allotted two weeks and returned it to the shelf for another one to come along. I first heard about this book on Steve McConnell’s list of books for developers on level 10.
This is a review of the book I put on Amazon:
This book really looks at software creativity from a number of dichotomies - Ancient Greek (bring your own hammer) v. Rome (Let's build this together), Discipline v. Flexible, Formal v. Heuristics, extrinsic v. intrinsic motivations, science v. art, and a number of others. These topics are all addressed in a series of very easy to read essays that takes the reader through the journey of determining what is best. I found this a very good read and one that I will ponder for some time.
—Scott Brookhart, Austin, TX
by Robert L. Glass
Buy it now at Amazon.com!
