gerald weinberg gerald marvin weinberg october 27 1933 august 7 2018 was an american computer scientist author and teacher of the psychology and anthropology of computer software development his most wellknown books are the psychology of computer programming and introduction to general systems thinking biography gerald weinberg was born and raised in chicago he attended omaha central high school in omaha nebraska weinberg started working in the computing business at ibm in 1956 at the federal systems division washington where he participated as manager of operating systems development in the project mercury 19591963 which aimed to put a human in orbit around the earth weinberg has been a visiting professor at the university of nebraskalincoln binghamton university and columbia university he has been a member of the society for general systems research since the late 1950s in 1993 he was the winner of the jd warnier prize for excellence in information sciences the 2000 winner of the stevens award for contributions to software engineering the 2010 software test professionals first annual luminary award and the european testing excellence award at the eurostar conference in 2013 weinberg died on august 7 2018 work his most wellknown books are the psychology of computer programming and introduction to general systems thinking both of which are considered to be classics having been reissued by the publisher in silver editions his book becoming a technical leader is one of fewer than a dozen books specific to managing software programmers and teams weinberg is well known for an engaging style of writing that calls upon his own humorous aphorisms such as his law of twins which states that most of the time no matter how much effort one expends no event of any great significance will result he described it in his book the secrets of consulting 1985 in which he explains the origin of its name he reported that while riding a bus in new york city he observed a mother with eight small children embark she asked the driver the amount of the fare he told her that the cost was thirtyfive cents but that children under the age of five could ride for free when the woman deposited only thirtyfive cents into the payment slot the driver was incredulous do you mean to tell me that all your children are under five years old the woman explained that she had four sets of twins the driver replied do you always have twins no said the woman most of the time we dont have any in recent years weinberg was involved with the shape forum software as a human activity performed effectively a collection of essays by a few of his students colleagues and friends describing lessons learned from weinberg and incorporated in their own consulting and managerial work weinberg has also written and published a number of novels publications weinberg has published more than 40 books and more than 400 articles a selection 1971 the psychology of computer programming silver anniversary edition 1998 isbn0932633420 1975 an introduction to general systems thinking silver anniversary edition 2001 isbn0932633498 1982 are your lights on how to figure out what the problem really is with donald c gause isbn0932633161 1986 becoming a technical leader an organic problemsolving approach isbn0932633021 1986 secrets of consulting a guide to giving and getting advice successfully isbn0932633013 1988 general principles of systems design with daniela weinberg isbn0932633072 1992 quality software management anticipating change vol 1 systems thinking isbn0932633226 2002 more secrets of consulting the consultants tool kit isbn0932633528 2005 weinberg on writing the fieldstone method isbn093263365x 2008 perfect software and other illusions about testing isbn0932633692 2010 freshman murders isbn1453700153 egoless programming prefactoring wikiquote has quotations related to gerald weinberg jerry weinbergs own website gerald m weinberg at the internet speculative fiction database authority control worldcat identities bne xx1086904 bnf cb128499082 data dblp wjerrymweinberg gnd 129262781 isni 0000 0001 1080 8175 lccn n79054985 ndl 00460454 selibr 320696 snac w6zx6x7d sudoc 056543255 viaf 108213426 