Code Complete

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This article is about the software development book. For the software release life cycle stage "code complete", see Software release life cycle.

Code Complete is a software development book, written by Steve McConnell and published by Microsoft Press, urging developers to get past code and fix programming and the "big design up front" waterfall model. It is also a compendium of software construction techniques, from naming variables to deciding when to write a subroutine.

McConnell defines the main activities in construction as:

detailed design
construction planning
coding and debugging
unit testing
integration, and
integration testing

Although he does not dismiss the value of other aspects of software development such as requirements and documentation, McConnell emphasizes the construction of software because:

Construction is a large part of software development.
Construction is the central activity in software development.
With a focus on construction, the individual programmer's productivity can improve enormously.
Construction's product, the source code, is often the only accurate description of the software.
Construction is the only activity that's guaranteed to be done.