The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition

by Andy Hunt

Technology may have changed, but people haven’t.

There are no easy answers. There is no best solution, be it a tool, a language, or an operating system. There can only be systems that are more appropriate in a particular set of circumstances.

In order to be a Pragmatic Programmer, we’re challenging you to think about what you’re doing while you’re doing it. This isn’t a one-time audit of current practices—it’s an ongoing critical appraisal of every decision you make, every day, and on every project. Never run on auto-pilot. Constantly be thinking, critiquing your work in real time. The old IBM corporate motto, THINK!, is the Pragmatic Programmer’s mantra.

The reward is a more active involvement with a job you love, a feeling of mastery over an increasing range of subjects, and pleasure in a feeling of continuous improvement.

Within the overall structure of a project there is always room for individuality and craftsmanship. This is particularly true given the current state of software engineering. One hundred years from now, our engineering may seem as archaic as the techniques used by medieval cathedral builders seem to today’s civil engineers, while our craftsmanship will still be honored.

“Kaizen” is a Japanese term that captures the concept of continuously making many small improvements.