The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery in Programmers

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Jan 27, 2020 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, programming

While I think this book has a lot of really great advice, I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style. Everything seems so finite and certain, despite the fact that they repeatedly walked back on arguments they had made in the first edition. The tone of the book was just a little too casual. It felt like I was getting a lecture by my grandfather instead of a professor.

Tone aside, the concepts in the book are really really solid and I think it's what we all should strive for. But reality is oft While I think this book has a lot of really great advice, I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style. Everything seems so finite and certain, despite the fact that they repeatedly walked back on arguments they had made in the first edition. The tone of the book was just a little too casual. It felt like I was getting a lecture by my grandfather instead of a professor.

Tone aside, the concepts in the book are really really solid and I think it's what we all should strive for. But reality is often disappointing. These suggestions work in the real world, and yes it would be interesting to work in a place that had all of these suggestions. But it'd also be nice if unicorns were real.

I also didn't particularly like how the coding examples were all in different languages depending on the section. It's not that it's hard to understand, but wouldn't it have been easier to lock in the concept more solidly if I could see it in my "native language?" The authors boast about the automation of their publishing scripts, so why couldn't one of those steps have been replacing all the code samples with a particular language. Naturally, you would end up with a litany of versions, but since they own the publishing company (and the website), this feels easily manageable using the PDF version. Now perhaps this is me missing the point, but I think it would still be beneficial. For example, during the section discussing the use of preconditions, post-conditions, and invariants, I had to look up online how my favorite language, C#, handles the process. And it was significantly different than the ideal example they presented in the book, and really isn't nearly as practical as they made it sound, nor as recommended.

Overall, I would tell everyone to read this book, but I would also say take it an open mind. These are things the ideal programmer should be doing, not the average programmer. Take steps to meet these goals but don't beat yourself up if you don't attain all of them within the next decade. ...more

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Jan 30, 2020 Michael added it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

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