The author addresses the practitioner. The book contains hints and experiences on how to build tools and libraries for software development. It discusses file processing, interfaces, compilation, and linkage. Hints are given based on existing programming systems like Windows. Stitt provides useful lists of common utilities and common functions. He makes no attempt to achieve completeness, which of course would require more of a theoretical foundation. Valid points about modern programming techniques, such as reusability, are made. The hints or principles are often hidden in the text. The reader might prefer summary overviews of these principles. One problem is the frequent use of acronyms. An acronym is generally spelled out briefly within the text once and then freely used throughout the text, requiring an extensive search for explanations with the help of the  index.  An appendix listing all the acronyms used might have resolved this problem.

The book is accompanied by a 5.25-inch disk containing the described tools in source as well as binary format. These programs are written in C++. They represent a good and useful selection. Together with the book as a user’s manual, the disk should be useful for the software developer.