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The Pragmatic Programmer Summary
About The Pragmatic Programmer Book
“One of the most significant books in my life.” –Obie Fernandez, Author, The Rails Way
“Twenty years ago, the first edition of The Pragmatic Programmer completely changed the trajectory of my career. This new edition could do the same for yours.” –Mike Cohn, Author of Succeeding with Agile, Agile Estimating and Planning, and User Stories Applied
“. . . filled with practical advice, both technical and professional, that will serve you and your projects well for years to come.” –Andrea Goulet, CEO, Corgibytes, Founder, LegacyCode.Rocks
“. . . lightning does strike twice, and this book is proof.” –VM (Vicky) Brasseur, Director of Open Source Strategy, Juniper Networks
The Pragmatic Programmer is one of those rare tech books you’ll read, re-read, and read again over the years. Whether you’re new to the field or an experienced practitioner, you’ll come away with fresh insights each and every time.
Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt wrote the first edition of this influential book in 1999 to help their clients create better software and rediscover the joy of coding. These lessons have helped a generation of programmers examine the very essence of software development, independent of any particular language, framework, or methodology, and the Pragmatic philosophy has spawned hundreds of books, screencasts, and audio books, as well as thousands of careers and success stories.
Now, twenty years later, this new edition re-examines what it means to be a modern programmer. Topics range from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and you’ll learn how to:
- Fight software rot
- Learn continuously
- Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge
- Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code
- Harness the power of basic tools
- Avoid programming by coincidence
- Learn real requirements
- Solve the underlying problems of concurrent code
- Guard against security vulnerabilities
- Build teams of Pragmatic Programmers
- Take responsibility for your work and career
- Test ruthlessly and effectively, including property-based testing
- Implement the Pragmatic Starter Kit
- Delight your users
You’ll become a Pragmatic Programmer.
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Preface to the Second Edition
Anyway, this book is the result. Please enjoy it. Maybe adopt some new practices. Maybe decide that some of the stuff we suggest is wrong. Get involved in your craft. Give us feedback.
But, most important, remember to make it fun.
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A Pragmatic Philosophy
Pragmatic Programmers take responsibility for everything they do.
Pragmatic Programmers won’t sit idly by and watch their projects fall apart through neglect.
Pragmatic programming stems from a philosophy of pragmatic thinking.
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Involve your users in the Trade-Off
Great software today is often preferable to the fantasy of perfect software tomorrow.
If you give your users something to play with early, their feedback will often lead you to a better eventual solution.
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When a bug gets you stuck, explain it to a rubber duck.
Why some programmers talk to rubber ducks
Talking to an inanimate object like a rubber duck is a debugging technique called rubber duck debugging.
The term was shaped in 1999 by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas - the authors of the book The Pragmatic Programmer.
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Why it works
Explaining a problem (it doesn't even have to be a bug in programming) helps to look at the problem from a different perspective. That helps to better understand what one is trying to accomplish and often the error is almost obvious while explaining it to someone else.
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A very simple but particularly useful technique for finding the cause of a problem is simply to explain it to someone else. The other person should look over your shoulder at the screen, and nod his or her head constantly (like a rubber duck bobbing up and down in a bathtub).
ANDREW HUNT & DAVID THOMAS
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