This book will help you become a better programmer

“This book will help you become a better programmer” is the first sentence in the introduction of the book “Der Pragmatische Programmierer”. And I believe that it is true.

I have now read the book in its entirety for a second time since 2005. I learned a lot from this book back then. In the meantime, however, much of what was new and innovative at the time has become part of everyday programming.

The topic of the book is the creation of software. In addition to good tips for programming (DRY, tracer bullets, prototypes, O() notation), there are also very good tips for the psychological aspects of programming, such as “Pragmatic programmers don’t even trust themselves.”

At just over 300 pages and given its thematic breadth, the book is a very good introduction. However, anyone who has already read books on code quality, agile methods, test-driven methods, etc., will come across passages here that they already know from other books.

In the meantime, the book has also become outdated in places. Back then, test-driven development and continuous integration were still in their infancy.

Overall, however, it is still a book that everyone who develops software should know.

David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
Der Pragmatische Programmierer
Hanser
2003