The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

Andy Hunt is an avid woodworker and musician, but, curiously, he is more in demand as a consultant. He has worked in telecommunications, banking, financial services, and utilities, as well as in more exotic fields, such as medical imaging, graphic arts, and Internet services. Andy specializes in blending tried-and-true techniques with leading-edge technologies, creating novel--but practical--solutions. Andy owns his own consulting business in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dave Thomas likes to fly single-engine airplanes and pays for his habit by finding elegant solutions to difficult problems, consulting in areas as diverse as aerospace, banking, financial services, telecommunications, travel and transport, and the Internet. Before moving to the United States in 1994, Dave founded an ISO9001-certified English software company that delivered sophisticated, custom software projects throughout the world. Dave is now an independent consultant based in Dallas, Texas.

Foreword. Preface. 1. A Pragmatic Philosophy. The Cat Ate My Source Code. Software Entropy. Stone Soup and Boiled Frogs. Good-Enough Software. Your Knowledge Portfolio. Communicate! 2. A Pragmatic Approach. The Evils of Duplication. Orthogonality. Reversibility. Tracer Bullets. Prototypes and Post-it Notes. Domain Languages. Estimating. 3. The Basic Tools. The Power of Plain Text. Shell Games. Power Editing. Source Code Control. Debugging. Text Manipulation. Code Generators. 4. Pragmatic Paranoia. Design by Contract. Dead Programs Tell No Lies. Assertive Programming. When to Use Exceptions. How to Balance Resources. 5. Bend, or Break. Decoupling and the Law of Demeter. Metaprogramming. Temporal Coupling. Its Just a View. Blackboards. 6. While You Are Coding. Programming by Coincidence. Algorithm Speed. Refactoring. Code Thats Easy to Test. Evil Wizards. 7. Before the Project. The Requirements Pit. Solving Impossible Puzzles. Not Until Youre Ready. The Specification Trap. Circles and Arrows. 8. Pragmatic Projects. Pragmatic Teams. Ubiquitous Automation. Ruthless Testing. Its All Writing. Great Expectations. Pride and Prejudice. Appendices. A Resources. Professional Societies. Building a Library. Internet Resources. Bibliography. B Answers to Exercises. Index.