Code Complete by Steve McConnell : Chapter 3

The author focuses on WIMP-Why isn't Marry Programming? or WISCA-Why Isn't Sam Coding Anything? syndrome where programmers do not understand the importance of preparation and prerequisites. There are two main reasons for this:

• The programmers themselves can't resist the urge to begin coding
• The managers are unsympathetic towards programmers who spend time on construction prerequisites.

The author enlists following prerequisites to be met before construction can be started:

• Problem Definition Prerequisite: There should be a clear statement of the problem the system is supposed to solve. The problem definition should be in user language and is without any reference to possible solutions.
  
• Requirements Prerequisite: Explicit requirements help achieve two things
• End user can review and agree to requirements and the programmer has a clear view of what user wants.
• They help avoid arguments.
Requirements are never stable and a typical project does experience 25% change in requirements during development. The author also provides a check-list to ensure that the requirements are content-rich, high-quality and complete.
• Architecture Prerequisite: The quality of the architecture determines the conceptual integrity of the system which in turn determines the ultimate quality of the system. An architecture should
• describe the system in broad terms.
• consider alternatives and provide reasons why one particular organization was chosen.
• define major modules with well-defined interface.
• show possible enhancements and that the effect of them is limited to small number of modules.
• provide reasons for not using off-the-shelf components.
• describe the major files, tables and data-structures to be used.
• describe or reference algorithms used and provide reasons why alternatives were not used.
• specify user interface.
• specify memory management.
• specify a strategy to consistently handle errors.
• clearly specify the degree of robustness and fault-tolerance of the software and what will be the response of the software in case of critical errors.
• provide a strategy how the software will handle internationalization.
  
• provide estimates of speed and memory use of the software.
The author also provides a list of issues a good architecture would address.
• Programming Language Prerequisite: Before construction begins, programming conventions should be spelled out.