The Pragmatic Programmer : Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
Addison Wesley (24 Nov 2001)
ISBN 978-0201616224
352 pages
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About:
The Pragmatic Programmer : Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
Like most guides books, methodologies, or insights The Pragmatic Programmer is best taken as something thought-provoking, rather than prescriptive. It covers a lot of ground in a relatively short space, applying its basic principal to day-to-day software engineering as opposed to just programming. The key principal is one that I (and most people) probably subscribe to, perhaps even subconsciously, which is called 'DRY', which stands for 'Don't Repeat Yourself'. The difference is that the authors explain how to apply this to _all_ aspects of your job, not just the obvious one which is code re-use and sharing. In general, the message seems to be 'invest time in the short term to automate and increase efficiency in the long term'. A sensible message, but one that many people (and I most definitely include myself here) avoid doing because of the initial time and effort involved in learning the required technologies and implementing the automation (Emacs and Perl for example). Other advice I particularly agreed with was the importance of recognizing limitations of methodologies and diagram-types, and using them as a guide and communication medium rather than as an end in themselves. I also really liked the sections on decoupling, which has a nice introduction to JavaSpaces - a really cool paradigm for certain classes of problem. In summary, this is not really a reference book - instead it's a 'memory-jogger', reiterating many things you already know at some intuitive level, but fail to follow - up due to external pressures or just plain homeostasis. What I like about this book is that it does have quite a lot of common sense in it. If like me you are an old hand, you are better off not buying this book, but rely on your years of experience. But if you are just starting off in the software industry, this is an excellent book to have - it describes some of those aspects of software methodologies that you are likely not going to be covering in the university. Highly Recommended.Related Materials
The Mythical Man Month and Other Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco. Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering Agile Software Development by Robert L. Glass. Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World by Venkat Subramaniam. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Object Technology) by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts.Resources
About the Author(s)
Andy Hunt (sometimes credited as Andrew Hunt) is a writer of books on software development. Hunt co-authored The Pragmatic Programmer, six other books and many articles, and was one of the 17 original authors of the Agile Manifesto and founders of the Agile Alliance. He and partner Dave Thomas founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf series of books for software developers. Dave Thomas likes to fly single-engine airplanes and pays for his habit by finding elegant solutions to difficult problems, consulting in areas as diverse as aerospace, banking, financial services, telecommunications, travel and transport, and the Internet. Before moving to the United States in 1994, Dave founded an ISO9001-certified English software company that delivered sophisticated, custom software projects throughout the world. Dave is now an independent consultant based in Dallas, Texas.Latest Offers
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