“One of the most significant books in my life.”
—Obie Fernandez, Author, The Rails Way
“Twenty years ago, the first edition of The Pragmatic Programmer completely changed the trajectory of my career. This new edition could do the same for yours.”
—Mike Cohn, Author of Succeeding with Agile
, Agile Estimating and Planning
, and User Stories Applied
“. . . filled with practical advice, both technical and professional, that will serve you and your projects well for years to come.”
—Andrea Goulet, CEO, Corgibytes, Founder, LegacyCode.Rocks“. . . lightning does strike twice, and this book is proof.”
—VM (Vicky) Brasseur, Director of Open Source Strategy, Juniper NetworksThe Pragmatic Programmer is one of those rare tech books you’ll read, re-read, and read again over the years. Whether you’re new to the field or an experienced practitioner, you’ll come away with fresh insights each and every time.
Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt wrote the first edition of this influential book in 1999 to help their clients create better software and rediscover the joy of coding. These lessons have helped a generation of programmers examine the very essence of software development, independent of any particular language, framework, or methodology, and the Pragmatic philosophy has spawned hundreds of books, screencasts, and audio books, as well as thousands of careers and success stories.
Now, twenty years later, this new edition re-examines what it means to be a modern programmer. Topics range 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
- Learn continuously
- Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge
- Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code
- Harness the power of basic tools
- Avoid programming by coincidence
- Learn real requirements
- Solve the underlying problems of concurrent code
- Guard against security vulnerabilities
- Build teams of Pragmatic Programmers
- Take responsibility for your work and career
- Test ruthlessly and effectively, including property-based testing
- Implement the Pragmatic Starter Kit
- Delight your users
Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with classic and fresh anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies,
The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best approaches 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.
Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details."Some say that with
The Pragmatic Programmer, Andy and Dave captured lightning in a bottle; that it's unlikely anyone will soon write a book that can move an entire industry as it did. Sometimes, though, lightning does strike twice, and this book is proof. The updated content ensures that it will stay at the top of "best books in software development" lists for another 20 years, right where it belongs."
-VM (Vicky) Brasseur, Director of Open Source Strategy, Juniper Networks "If you want your software to be easy to modernize and maintain, keep a copy of
The Pragmatic Programmer close. It's filled with practical advice, both technical and professional, that will serve you and your projects well for years to come."
-Andrea Goulet, CEO, Corgibytes; Founder, LegacyCode.Rocks "
The Pragmatic Programmer is the one book I can point to that completely dislodged the existing trajectory of my career in software and pointed me in the direction of success. Reading it opened my mind to the possibilities of being a craftsman, not just a cog in a big machine. One of the most significant books in my life."
-Obie Fernandez, Author, The Rails Way
"First-time readers can look forward to an enthralling induction into the modern world of software practice, a world that the first edition played a major role in shaping. Readers of the first edition will rediscover here the insights and practical wisdom that made the book so significant in the first place, expertly curated and updated, along with much that's new."
-David A. Black, Author, The Well-Grounded Rubyist
"I have an old paper copy of the original
Pragmatic Programmer on my bookshelf. It has been read and re-read and a long time ago it changed everything about how I approached my job as a programmer. In the new edition everything and nothing has changed: I now read it on my iPad and the code examples use modern programming languages-but the underlying concepts, ideas, and attitudes are timeless and universally applicable. Twenty years later, the book is as relevant as ever. It makes me happy to know that current and future developers will have the same opportunity to learn from Andy and Dave's profound insights as I did back in the day."
-Sandy Mamoli, Agile coach; Author of How Self-Selection Lets People Excel
