97 Things Every Programmer Should Know - Kevlin Henney (O'Reilly)
97 short essays on the craft of programming from experienced developers, including Robert C. Martin, Michael Feathers and Pete Goodliffe. Language-agnostic, 255 pages, edited by Kevlin Henney.
Features
What 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know is
This is not a tutorial. It is 97 essays, each about two pages long, in which experienced developers each pass on one thing they wish they had known earlier. Kevlin Henney edited the collection for O'Reilly, and nothing in it is tied to a particular language, which is why it has stayed in print since 2010 while most programming books from that year have dated.
A sample of the essays
- The Boy Scout Rule - Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) on leaving code cleaner than you found it
- Code in the Language of the Domain - Dan North
- Write Tests for People - Gerard Meszaros
- Know Your IDE - Heinz Kabutz
- Beware the Share - Udi Dahan on the hidden cost of reuse
- A Message to the Future - Linda Rising
Who it suits
It is best for someone who can already write code and is starting to work on real projects with other people: a junior developer, a bootcamp graduate, or a self-taught programmer who wants the habits that code reviews tend to teach the hard way. The short format means it works as a book to dip into rather than read cover to cover, and it makes a good gift for a developer who already owns the language books.
Book details
- Editor: Kevlin Henney
- Publisher: O'Reilly, 2 Mar 2010
- Format: paperback, 255 pages
- ISBN-13: 978-0596809485