Reviews for Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration (Software Patterns Series)

1. Good, but not great

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2009

   I had high expectations for this book, given the (mostly) glowing reviews that it has on www.amazon.com and the one previous review on www.amazon.co.uk . Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to those expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book, it just isn't as good as it could be. I did agree with almost all of the material presented, but there actually wasn't very much of it.
   
   Whereas most books on configuration management talk about a single implementation tool (e.g. CVS) and other than a general introduction about version control go into lots of detail of the syntax for the particular tool, this book tries to be generic, discussing the use of configuration management in terms of patterns. It's a good idea, but it has some failings/irritations:
   
   * The content relating to configuration management and patterns is very lightweight. I agree with the vast majority of what is said, but there just isn't very much of it.
   * Because of how little material there really is, the book feels like it has been padded out with material that touches on the development background of the authors rather than either concentrating on configuration management or explaining how to really implement the patterns using real-world examples.
   * The diagrams attempt to use UML, but that doesn't really work very well in this context (in my opinion anyway). The diagrams could be made clearer by avoiding UML.
   * The book attempts to be generic, with details of some specific systems at the end. Unfortunately, attempting to be generic fails at the first hurdle, when talking about revision numbering of files. For most systems the discussion is fine, but for users of tools such as Subversion, revision numbering works differently. Note that the only mention Subversion gets in the book is the web-site address one page 194, which is incorrectly indexed (always a worry), with the index showing page 193.
   * The authors seem to have tried to write an easy-to-read book whilst also trying to fill it with academic-style references and quotes. That is an odd combination that makes the style confusing.
   * Also, some of the English is a bit weird and the proof-reading missed a few errors, which by the 10th printing is unexpected.
   
   Did I learn anything new from reading this book? Unfortunately not, although it did spur me on to do more tidying up of a legacy repository that I now manage. Admittedly I do have extensive experience in the area, but I had hoped to learn something. For somebody new or fairly new to the subject this may be a useful read, but for those people I would not rely on this to be your only book on the subject.
   
   This review is based on the 10th printing of the book, dated 2008.
   
   

2. Fabulous!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2004

   This is a wonderful SCM book. (Best) Practices are organized according to a Pattern Language, which makes it really easy to follow through and understand the relationship between them. It has really helped me consolidate my knowledge on SCM and has become a reference in my library.