Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96  ·  rating details  ·  573 ratings  ·  41 reviews
"In this second edition of "Extreme Programming Explained, " Kent Beck organizes and presents five years' worth of experiences, growth, and change revolving around XP. If you are seriously interested in understanding how you and your team can start down the path of improvement with XP, you must read this book."
--Francesco Cirillo, Chief Executive Officer, XPLabs S.R.L. "T...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published November 16th 2004 by Addison-Wesley Professional (first published October 5th 1999)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
The  C Programming Language by Brian W. KernighanThe Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew HuntDesign Patterns by Erich GammaStructure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold AbelsonRefactoring by Martin Fowler
Essential Programming Books
72nd out of 86 books — 151 voters
The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew HuntMastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E.F. FriedlThe Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks Jr.The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 4, Fascicles 0-4 by Donald E. KnuthDeath March by Edward Yourdon
Ship It Suggested Reading List
18th out of 30 books — 1 voter


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,171)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Jean Tessier
eXtreme Programming 2.0.

Actually, it's a complete rewrite of the first edition.

Actually, it's more like reinventing XP. Kent Beck is adjusting XP so we can benefit from his additional five years of XP experience. The first XP was squarely aimed at programmers; this new version should appeal to everyone involved in software development. The practices have been updated: some have been dropped, some are new. He recommends a much more gradual introduction if you want to move to XP, instead of the st...more
Ondřej Sýkora
An explanation of the extreme programming methodology. The main thesis of the book is that it does not make sense to try and predict things that can't be predicted. Instead, Kent Beck proposes a methodology that embraces changes instead of fighting them or trying to predict everything into detail. The main points of the methodology are:
- pair programming - all code is written in pairs (on a single computer); this leads to a higher quality of code being written, as the person who is not writing h...more
Kristina Stefanova
Very good book that is explaining the main principles, practices and values of Extreme Programming (XP) that makes the software development faster and brings excellence and good quality to the end product. The examples are simple, the book is easy for reading and is inspiring. The main core in the process of XP are pair programming, test driven development, incremental design, deployment and planning, work separated in development cycles and customer interaction. The team aim to achieve perfect...more
Darryl
Although I didn't always agree with the author's conclusions, I loved this book. The five-star score is a rating of the book, not XP itself. The book does a wonderful job of tieing practices back to principles and values. XP practices and the reasoning behind them are explained in enough detail that you can work them into your teams starting now. I think this is the book's main goal, and it has been reached.

The book is not without flaws. The author makes a number of assumptions about people and...more
Vladimir
This is fantastic book for developers. It helps to organize the development process in light and highly productive teams of two or more, this even helps personally for every developer on this planet.

This is a book from which professional development starts. The well-structured book is interesting to read and has a lot of nice real examples. It's a nice and clean cookbook for modern developers.
Thomas
I found this to be a fascinating book which explores some of the principles behind agile development instead of a more cookbook approach. I found it to be very insightful and that the principles Beck expounds ring true to me. If you just want an implementation guide this will not be it. But in my opinion understanding the principles behind Agile is more important than an implementation.
Nicholas
Interesting read even if you don't know anything about coding. Don't let the lack of quotes belie this book. There was nothing that jumped off the page but it was all good. Short and too the point too.


Quotes:

"One way a test can pay off is when a test works that you didn't expect to work. Then you better go find out why it works, because the code is smarter than you are."
David Workman
A very good read that introduces the topic of Extreme Programming extremely well.

This book does a great job of conveying the practices, principles and values of XP to its target audience. Its style should be familiar to those who have read Kent Beck's other books - it gets right to the point, doesn't repeat itself very much and is split into chapters where they make sense without any artificial bloating of chapters to make them 'the right size' (several chapters are only 2 sides, for example).

It...more
Neville Ridley-smith
I read parts of this many years ago and I decided to give it a thorough read-through. Even though it's the first edition, it's still interesting. Agile (mostly Scrum) has definitely developed further from these ideas but the basics are here. And there are plenty of good reminders too. Gets a bit hand-wavy at times but I can overlook that.
Carl Paukstis
A sermon from the prophet. Beck had a big hand in inventing eXtreme Programming and early work on Agile methods. He really, REALLY believes in XP, as he makes clear in this book.

The book is more of a discussion of philosophy in software development and managing development teams, vs. a guide for using the XP methods. Although he does lay out the fundamental goals, practices and values, little attention is given to how to get buy-in to following them. Short shrift is given to the concept of parti...more
Kristjan Wager
If you want to get an introduction to eXtreme Programming, this is the book for you. Kent Beck explains the basics, allowing the reader to understand not only what techniques are used, but why they are used.

Ultimately, I didn't find XP the right fit for me, but this book allowed me to evaluate the method on its merits.
David
Extreme Programming (XP) is a development methodology that acknowledges that both developers customers matter. It acknowledges that people have strengths and weaknesses, and that it chooses to work with those weaknesses rather than against it. This is in contrast to most of the traditional software development methodologies, where emphasis in placed mostly on processes.

This book provides a balanced introduction and explanation of XP. Even as it espouses the good, it also highlights limitations....more
Ben
This entire series is a must read, so that you're at least knowledgeable when you come down on one side or the other of this debate (which is still ongoing after 10 years). I for one liked Explained because it broke down the patterns and team theories for people to more easily understand their rewards
Jim Butler
No doubt the ideas brought forth in Beck's work will generate controversy. He writes as he preaches, simple and courageous. I read the book in 3 hours and am still thinking heavily about its message. Current technological advances may actually allow his approach to work but it will be a tough sell to any customer comfortable with current methodologies. Beck's zeal is contagious but it comes across as rationalization for the lazy way I want to code. Frankly, what he espouses could be downright da...more
Ash Moran
Awesome. Focused, insightful and balanced. I don't think I could have learnt Agile from this alone, as it's too abstract, but it really sets the bar for what you can aspire to as a software developer. Everyone involved in software should read this.
Tuba
I highlighted so many sentences from this book, which made me understand the answers provided by Extreme Programming to real world problems a developer faces. Definitely a must read for developers who live in agile software development world.
Stephen
This is the book that changed my programming and consulting career. It provided a jargon for a few things I was already doing, and introduced me to many ideas that have made all the difference in the years since.

Pat
Fairly interesting book about what extreme programming is about but being in a formal (FDA regulated) environment there is little chance of using this though perhaps for internal programs we might be able to.
Jon Archer
I didn't actually find this quite as compelling as, say, Mike Cohn's writing on agile and scrum. I think that's Beck's writing style though. The content is solid and valuable.
Jack Repenning
This is one of the master-works of the Agile movement, Extreme Programming (XP) variant. XP (and therefore, this book) focuses particularly on the workgroup dynamics, and leaves out discussion of some surrounding bits that are none the less necessary (like "release planning"), which is why the most popular Agile style is widely quoted as "XP plus Scrum." So, don't look here for questions like "how do we decide what to do?" or "how do we handle institutional stakeholders who won't adapt to the pr...more
Kevin
Very interesting, intriguing ideas. But under-estimates just how fragile it is against company culture and individual personalities.
Marshall
This book explains Extreme Programming. Right? You could have figured that out, I'm sure. Pretty straightforward. It makes a case, addresses misunderstandings, criticisms, and special cases, and gives examples. Extreme programming is a style of programming that turns the traditional processes on their heads. Rather than testing at the end, it tests at the beginning. Rather than a design phase, it advocates aggressive refactoring, redesigning continuously. It makes a pretty good case, but I didn'...more
Luke
Consider reading the first edition, too, to see how Kent's views have evolved. There are significant differences.
Kevin
This book has a lot of good advice, if you don't get too caught up in all of the "extreme programming" hype.
Ben Haley
Feb 10, 2010 Ben Haley marked it as to-read
Another from the Art of Project Management which will be useful for the type of development we do at PERTS.
Felipe Carvalho
Excellent book, spectacular philosophy, a must read for any software developer.
Stefan Kanev
This is one of the best books on programming I've read. It's more about philosophy than process. Every page is worth it.
Riggs
Mar 10, 2010 Riggs added it
Der Klassiker. Auch ein Must-Read ;)
Miro
Essential.
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 39 40 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
eXtreme Programming eXplained : embrace change (Paperback)
Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change (2nd Edition) (The XP Series)
Extreme Programming
Экстремальное программирование (Библиотека программиста)
Extrémní programování (Paperback)

Goodreads is hiring!

If you like books and love to build cool products, we may be looking for you.
Learn more »
Test Driven Development: By Example Planning Extreme Programming Implementation Patterns SmallTalk Best Practice Patterns JUnit Pocket Guide

Share This Book

Your website