Key Points

  • Software construction is the central activity in software development; construction is the only activity that's guaranteed to happen on every project.

  • The main activities in construction are detailed design, coding, debugging, integration, and developer testing (unit testing and integration testing).

  • Other common terms for construction are "coding" and "programming."

  • The quality of the construction substantially affects the quality of the software.

  • In the final analysis, your understanding of how to do construction determines how good a programmer you are, and that's the subject of the rest of the book.

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