Becoming a Better Programmer
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Becoming a Better Programmer

A handbook for people who care about code

About the Book

A hand-crafted ebook for software developers.

You care about code. You're passionate about programming. You’re the kind of developer who likes to craft truly great software. And you want to do it even better. This book is for you.

It’s a catalogue of useful techniques and approaches to the art and craft of programming that will help you become better.

Preview version

This is a preview version of the book to give you a flavour of the contents. The full version is now available from O'Reilly, vastly updated and edited, with tonnes of content.

If you have any comments or suggestions then I would very much like to hear from you.

What’s covered?

The topics covered in this book cover the whole gamut of the software developer’s life:

  • Code-level concerns that affect how you write individual lines of code, as well as how you design your software modules.
  • Practical techniques that will help you to work better.
  • Illustrations of the correct attitudes and approaches to adopt that will help you become both super-effective and well-grounded.
  • Procedural and organisational tricks and tips that will help you flourish whilst you are incarcerated in the software factory.

There’s no particular language or industry bias here.

Who's it for?

If you're a software developer then this book is for you. Whether you have six months or six years of experience, you'll be encouraged to improve your skills.

About the Author

Pete Goodliffe
Pete Goodliffe

Pete Goodliffe is a programmer, a software development columnist, a musician, and author. He never stays at the same place in the software food chain - his projects range from OS implementation, through audio codecs, to multimedia applications; from embedded firmware, through iOS development, to desktop applications. He has a passion for curry and doesn't wear shoes.

Pete's popular development book Code Craft is a practical and entertaining investigation of the entire programming pursuit. In about 600 pages. No mean feat! It has been translated into many languages. He writes a magazine column called Becoming a Better Programmer, has contributed to several software development books, and regularly speaks on software development topics.

Table of Contents

  • About this preview
    • What’s in the full version
    • Important note (for the Leanpub version)
  • About the author
  • Introduction
    • What’s covered?
    • Structure
    • A note for mentors
    • Acknowledgements
  • Care About The Code
    • Questions
  • People Power
    • What to do
    • Know your experts
    • 20/20 Hindsight
    • Questions
  • Write Less Code!
    • Why should we care?
    • Flappy logic
    • Duplication
    • Dead code
    • Comments
    • Verbosity
    • Bad design
    • Whitespace
    • So what do we do?
    • Conclusion
    • Questions
  • Continue Reading

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