The Pragmatic Programmer, 20th Anniversary Edition

Ammar Najjar · Posted on September 23, 2019 · 2 min readsoftware-engineering

About the book:

• Author: David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
• ISBN: 978-0-1359-5705-9
• Official website: https://pragprog.com/book/tpp20/the-pragmatic-programmer-20th-anniversary-edition

Summary:

This book gives a definition for being a pragmatic programmer, then talks about some of the basic principles to being one. It take a theoretical approach, with examples in the form of stories, to explain a specific problem, and how should one approach it, and solve it.

Highlights:

What stands out:

• 1-3: Software Entropy:

  Tip 3: Don’t live with broken windows

• 1-7: Communicate:

  Tip 13: Build documentation in, don’t bolt it on

• 6-36: Blackboards:

  Tip 60: Use blackboards to coordinate workflow

• 7-42: Property-Based Testing:

  Tip 71: Use property-based tests to validate your assumptions

Opinion

For someone, like me, who already has experience with more than one programming language, prioritise testing (see my Selenium functional-testing example), and familiar with the agile development methods, this book looks some kind of repetition or an emphasise for the information one already know.

Conclusion:

• A good read if you don’t appreciate testing, or early refactoring, or want to know more about agile development methods, ways to better architect your projects.
• Level: Beginner to Intermediate