What others in the trenches say about The Pragmatic Programmer...

“The cool thing about this book is that it’s great for keeping the programming process fresh. The book helps you to continue to grow and clearly comes from people who have been there.”

         —Kent Beck, author of Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

“I found this book to be a great mix of solid advice and wonderful analogies!”

         —Martin Fowler, author of Refactoring and UML Distilled

“I would buy a copy, read it twice, then tell all my colleagues to run out and grab a copy. This is a book I would never loan because I would worry about it being lost.”

         —Kevin Ruland, Management Science, MSG-Logistics

“The wisdom and practical experience of the authors is obvious. The topics presented are relevant and useful.... By far its greatest strength for me has been the outstanding analogies—tracer bullets, broken windows, and the fabulous helicopter-based explanation of the need for orthogonality, especially in a crisis situation. I have little doubt that this book will eventually become an excellent source of useful information for journeymen programmers and expert mentors alike.”

         —John Lakos, author of Large-Scale C++ Software Design

“This is the sort of book I will buy a dozen copies of when it comes out so I can give it to my clients.”

         —Eric Vought, Software Engineer

“Most modern books on software development fail to cover the basics of what makes a great software developer, instead spending their time on syntax or technology where in reality the greatest leverage possible for any software team is in having talented developers who really know their craft well. An excellent book.”

         —Pete McBreen, Independent Consultant

“Since reading this book, I have implemented many of the practical suggestions and tips it contains. Across the board, they have saved my company time and money while helping me get my job done quicker! This should be a desktop reference for everyone who works with code for a living.”

         —Jared Richardson, Senior Software Developer, iRenaissance, Inc.

“I would like to see this issued to every new employee at my company....”

         —Chris Cleeland, Senior Software Engineer, Object Computing, Inc.

“If I’m putting together a project, it’s the authors of this book that I want. . . . And failing that I’d settle for people who’ve read their book.”

         —Ward Cunningham

Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It covers topics ranging 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;

• Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge;

• Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code;

• Avoid programming by coincidence;

• Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions;

• Capture real requirements;

• Test ruthlessly and effectively;

• Delight your users;

• Build teams of pragmatic programmers; and

• Make your developments more precise with automation.

Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with entertaining anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies, The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best practices and major pitfalls of many different aspects of software development. Whether you're a new coder, an experienced programmer, or a manager responsible for software projects, use these lessons daily, and you'll quickly see improvements in personal productivity, accuracy, and job satisfaction. You'll learn skills and develop habits and attitudes that form the foundation for long-term success in your career. You'll become a Pragmatic Programmer.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 146 Ratings

A mile wide and an inch deep - 2009-06-23
Reviewer Rating:
As an experienced software developer, I was looking for a book that I could recommend to more junior members of my team to help them improve their skills. This book wasn't it. Although this book has a lot of very good advice in it, it's mostly a mile wide and an inch deep. For a junior developer not already familiar with these ideas, there isn't enough meat here for them to gain any real appreciation or understanding of the material.

In contrast, take Code Complete. It's *only* a book about code construction, a small portion of what Pragmatic Programmer tries to cover. And yet, Code Complete weighs in at nearly 900 pages, versus Pragmatic's 300 or so. The difference is detail. Code Complete really digs into each topic, explaining it completely and giving examples. It's a bigger read to be sure, but when you're done, you have truly learned something. When you finish Pragmatic Programmer, you're left wanting another book that actually explains everything you just read.

I hate it. - 2009-11-08
Reviewer Rating:
99% of this book is talking from a business perspective. Do this if you want to be profitable do that if you want to be profitable. I'm a hobby programmer (sometimes I do freelance but not often). The professional tone of the book was a bit of a put-off. I'm not interested in becoming a master of business.

I've invested quite a bit of time learning C++. According to this book it was a waste. According to this book you're supposed to learn a new language every year! Learn a new language every year! How incredible. I challenge anyone to learn C++ in a year. I've read that most people never learn C++ in its entirety, so it might take a *long* time to learn it. I think to learn most languages (to the point where you could be said to be good for fluent with that language) it will take a year or more.

Another bit of garbage in this book was right in the beginning. It lists bullet points for what a pragmatic programmer should be. One points says "be an early adopter of new technology". A few bullet points later it says "be a critical thinker". I have met a lot of early adopters, and a lot of critical thinkers, and the two are almost if not completely opposite. A critical thinker might decide that if a system should be adopted, it should pass the test of time. A good personal example of this would be my decision to see how people liked Windows Vista before buying it for my machine. As it turned out Vista was a bit of a flop, so I kept XP Pro for a bit longer. Now that Windows 7 is out, and I've heard good things, I will probably install it on my machine. In this case I'm not being an early adopter, I'm biding my time and learning from others experiences.

What can I say I guess I'm not very pragmatic :P

As far as recommendations goes, the last good book I've read in this type of genre would have been Code Craft (No Starch Press).

Definitely a Classic - 2009-10-25
Reviewer Rating:
I found the book to be worth a read (which doesn't take long). Filled with lots of lessons most programmers learn with time/experience. It's not a book on design patterns or anything. It's more of a book explaining things like planning, how to be most productive, the difference between a prototype and tracer bullets, why code generation is powerful/how to do it, the benefits of decoupling...etc. It's quite a little gem in many ways... and best of all, easy to read.

A Guide to better life - as a programer - 2009-10-18
Reviewer Rating:
I started reading the book a few days ago and enjoy it every minute.
I haven't finished reading it, but feel confident to review it.
I recommend this book to any person who wants to be a better programmer.
When I first tried to describe what this book is about, I made an analogy to the kinds of books the gives you 'good advices for better life'.
One of the rules to have better life is, if you read these kinds of books, at least try to follow what they suggest.
Well, since starting reading Pragmatic, I keep trying to follow the advices I've read.
I was happy to see that some of the advices, I kept even before.
I feel that in the subjects that I read and started following, I became better.
Following the advices made me better in the small and nuance steps. Al and all, a much better developer.

Some of the advices are not applicable for my field and what I do, so I just read the background of them.
I do read this book cover to cover for the first time, bu after that I plan to read each advice when needed.
I even started explaining some of the advices to my colleagues. They were very happy with them.

Go buy it!

My 1st pragmatic book - 2009-06-18
Reviewer Rating:
Fantastic book that sets me out reading a series of pragmatic book.
Get this book and be inspired!

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