Books for learning how to write "big" programs

[Dan Upton]

On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 1:49 PM, Kurt Smith <kwmsmith at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 10:55 AM, duli <dulipishi at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi:
>> I would like recommendations for books (in any language, not
>> necessarily C++, C, python) which have walkthroughs for developing
>> a big software project ? So starting from inception, problem
>> definition, design, coding and final delivery on a single theme
>> or application.
>
> The bigger the project, the more likely it is that you'll have
> documentation on how to use it (for a language or library, how to use
> the features in your program) but to take the time to write up a
> dead-tree book on the project's "inception, problem definition,
> design, coding and final delivery" is not likely well spent.  Anyone
> who has the expertise to write such a book would probably be spending
> his time working on the next phase of the project itself.
>
> Someone will probably respond with an amazon link to a book that does
> exactly what you're asking, in which case, I will stand corrected.
> But I'll be surprised.
>

Well, except for some higher-level textbooks.  For instance, I *think*
(not positive) that any of Appel's "Modern Compiler Implementation"
books give a pretty thorough treatment of implementing a compiler
(except for the obvious part where, since it's intended as a textbook,
some gaps are left for the student to fill in).  I also think the
recent edition of the Dragon book (Compilers: Principles, Techniques,
and Tools 2nd ed) has a complete compiler frontend in one of the
appendices (although you kind of have to mix and match to figure out
where in the book they've described the parts that lead to writing out
the code shown in the appendix).

-dan