The Pragmatic Programmer

I was a computer engineering major in college, so I’ve encountered a fair share of programming books. Some books taught a new language, while others discussed specific types of hardware. All of these books were good resources, and they have aided in my professional development. None of them, however, have captured my attention and inspired me like The Pragmatic Programmer has.

The Pragmatic Programmer, written by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, approaches programming from a different angle. Rather than focusing on syntax and technical details, this book explores real-world problems that confront software engineers on a daily basis. If the methods presented by the authors are applied, coding becomes a beautiful process that one can take pride in, not a menial task that has you watching the clock all day long.

I especially appreciated the way that Hunt and Thomas broke their ideas down into short, memorable maxims. “Don’t live with broken windows,” “DRY – Don’t Repeat Yourself,” and “Use tracer bullets to find your target,” were some of my favorites. This book has reminded me that programming is equal parts art and science, and it should be required reading for anyone who wants to improve their coding ability.