tamouse's review against another edition
3.0
I tried to like this book. And maybe it could be really good for a newer person, but I've known all these things for a really long time. Most of them get burned into you after your third huge project.
Even so, I would really recommend this book to people starting out -- not that they'll understand at all why they need to know any of these things, but that when they have forgotten them, been bitten by them, they can recognise that these things are known, they aren't the first person to encounter them, and that there is probably a body of knowledge they can explore.
Even so, I would really recommend this book to people starting out -- not that they'll understand at all why they need to know any of these things, but that when they have forgotten them, been bitten by them, they can recognise that these things are known, they aren't the first person to encounter them, and that there is probably a body of knowledge they can explore.
computerwhiz's review against another edition
4.0
It's a decent book, although it's probably geared more towards beginners. Most of the advice and concepts presented in the book are pretty common knowledge for most programmers with experience, so there's nothing groundbreaking. Given how brief each "chapter" is (which is the point of the book), this book serves mostly as a place to start when deciding what you want to explore in more depth, at least in my opinion.
fredtyre's review against another edition
5.0
Great book. I really enjoy the stories that go along with the bit of wisdom mentioned. Although I agree that all programmers should know these things, no one environment can fit into the mold that would allow for all scenarios in this book to work out positively. I work for a small enough team that we don't have a QA department, for instance. Still, the book is a fun read and has some good tidbits to remember.
mdzhang's review against another edition
3.0
I found some tips a bit dated and others a bit enterprise-y (esp as it pertained to the division of roles between different types of developers), but overall worth the read. For those who have already read a couple of programming best practices books or been programming professionally for a couple years with a critical eye, you are unlikely to discover anything very new.
I did find a number of points not worth reading or unnecessarily verbose and easily boiled down into a bullet point or two.
I did find a number of points not worth reading or unnecessarily verbose and easily boiled down into a bullet point or two.
joergr's review against another edition
3.0
97 very short pieces all containing little insights into what makes one a better programmer, written by a field of experienced programmers - mostly white dudes.
It's a short read, and definitely worth going through. There is a lot of good insight. I would say 60% of the pieces contain a valuable message - do testing. be careful of this usual pattern in testing because here's an anecdote where it failed. don't use this pattern. The other 40% I would say suffer from programmer's arrogance a bit too much and are very debatable. About 5-10 pieces actually are great and make sifting through this book worth it.
But again, too many white male voices. I'm certain that diverse voices define a broader insight. Especially since pieces approaching programming as a people problem from a bird's eye view are rare in this book, I'm sure that replacing these 40% debatable pieces with more the voices of women, people of color or women of color would make this a 5 star book.
As it is, I recommend it for every programmer, but I also can't get excited about it.
It's a short read, and definitely worth going through. There is a lot of good insight. I would say 60% of the pieces contain a valuable message - do testing. be careful of this usual pattern in testing because here's an anecdote where it failed. don't use this pattern. The other 40% I would say suffer from programmer's arrogance a bit too much and are very debatable. About 5-10 pieces actually are great and make sifting through this book worth it.
But again, too many white male voices. I'm certain that diverse voices define a broader insight. Especially since pieces approaching programming as a people problem from a bird's eye view are rare in this book, I'm sure that replacing these 40% debatable pieces with more the voices of women, people of color or women of color would make this a 5 star book.
As it is, I recommend it for every programmer, but I also can't get excited about it.
rsilvery's review against another edition
2.0
Seemed like mostly common sense stuff. The only real thing I learned was the concept of "technical debt".
julissadantes's review against another edition
4.0
Very good! I wish I´ve read this by the time I started working, because I learned many of this things the hard way