The Pragmatic Programmer gives true insight into what it means to be a Software Developer with the passion of an artisan. One who strives for improvement in the craft to make things better and more efficient not just for the pursuit of money, but for the sake of doing good work. This book provides an overview of all the different concepts, tools, and approaches to a software solution. I had a friend who said he imagined what I do to be out of the movie Swordfish. In reality, I’m no Hugh Jackman and we don’t spend our time typing at the speed of sound in an abandoned warehouse. Writing code is likely only a small portion of our job. We spend much more time, reading, conceptualizing, and breaking large problems into smaller more achievable ones.
There are a lot of useful concepts in this book, instead of diving into detail I will give you a list, and a strong suggestion to read this book!
- Always Be Learning and Improving
- Avoid Over Engineering and Premature Optimization
- Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY)
- Design Code that can be easily changed, Decoupled, Single Responsibility, and Readable
- Mindset is as important as knowledge.
- Own your mistakes, Don’t make excuses make solutions.
- Unit tests are important, but Avoid Over-Testing
- Version Control Everything!
- Developers are people, not just a tool/resources.
- Slice problems down to smaller more achievable chunks
- Refactor when needed, No broken windows!
- Think before speaking / hitting enter.
This book provides a great overview and insight on everyday software developer life, while not being overly long-winded. The topics covered in this book can be so valuable not only to new developers who need to learn about these cornerstone subjects but to existing developers to be reminded of the goal in which we strive towards. The book reads like a conversation of a wise developer bestowing all the wisdom tidbits he has gained over the years and finds worthy to pass on to the next generation.
I would say this book is easily a must-read for any developer at least once in your life, the topics are broad, easy to read, and invaluable for your journey towards mastery. Happy Coding Everyone!
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