Book Quotes - The Pragmatic Programmer

The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt is a wonderful book about software development.

Here are the quotes that stuck with me and that I try to enforce in my day-to-day work life:

• Fix bad designs, wrong decisions, and poor code when you see them
• You can't force change in people. Lead by example and encourage them to join
• Only look ahead as far as you can see
• Build software that is easier to change
• Collect, organize, and maintain knowledge
• Learn a new language every year
• DRY: Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system
• Orthogonal system: Moving a button on a UI should not require a change in the database schema
• Keep track of your estimates to see how close you were
• Learn the terminal and automate it
• Use keyboard shortcuts
• Keep all your configurations in plain text files (YAMLs, etc.)
• It's much easier to find and diagnose the problem by crashing early, at the site of the problem
• Code defensively
• Leave assertions in code on
• Take small steps always. Check for feedback and adjust before proceeding
• Feedback: anything that independently confirms or disproves your actions
• Design your code to be replaceable
• Don't let existing code dictate future code
• Don't try to refactor and add functionality at the same time
• A test is the first user of your code
• Create a project glossary