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Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by summertime42 on Sunday December 04, 2022 @01:55PM (#33856481)
I have all of these on my shelf. Fantastic reads.

* Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck

* Clean Code and The Clean Coder by Robert C. Martin

* Soft Skills by John Sonmez (1st edition)

* Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

* Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers

* The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks

(Selfish plug) Additionally, I wrote my own book concerning the entire industry, from just starting out to becoming a self employed consultant when you get sick of fulltime work - all soft skills from my decade or so of the industry, as well - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B43V1JJW

Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by cokeandpepsi on Sunday December 04, 2022 @02:41PM (#33856977)
Robert C. Martin has ruined so many mid organizations it's kind of funny
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by pushedx on Sunday December 04, 2022 @03:28PM (#33857511)
Having never read Clean Code, why do you say that?
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by Chris_Newton on Sunday December 04, 2022 @03:51PM (#33857751)
Someone wrote a lengthy and detailed critique of Clean Code a little while back:

https://qntm.org/clean

As someone who also recommends against improving developers reading Clean Code, I think the arguments in that piece are generally on point.

Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by teddyh on Sunday December 04, 2022 @03:30PM (#33857532)
If you want your criticism to be taken seriously, please be specific.

There is apparently a large group of people who hate everything he does and also, seemingly, him personally. Everywhere he (or any of his books) is mentioned, the haters come out, with their vague “it’s all bad” and the old standard “I don’t know where to begin”. Serious criticism can be found (if you look for it), and he himself welcomes it, but the constant vague hate is scary to see.

Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by tester756 on Sunday December 04, 2022 @05:37PM (#33858742)
Years wasted on having to convincing people that "comments are viable" because they misunderstood Clean Code
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by teddyh on Sunday December 04, 2022 @05:42PM (#33858787)
Sounds like people being stupid? I mean, he never says that comments are not viable: like you say, they misunderstand the book.
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by tmaly on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @07:52AM (#33878854)
On that one point, he should issue clarification and release a new version.
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by teddyh on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @10:50AM (#33881996)
Have you read the book? I checked it now, and I think he expresses himself quite clearly.
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by tmaly on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @05:02PM (#33887755)
Yes, I have read it. But it seems that people have confusion over this part.
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by teddyh on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @09:07PM (#33889887)
I’m not sure how he could have expressed himself any more clearly, so I don’t know what such a “clarification” would entail.
Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by cokeandpepsi on Monday December 05, 2022 @01:11AM (#33862079)
I don't hate everything he does and I'd imagine he's probably an interesting guy to chat with

there is a subset of 'clean code' fanatics who treat his work as religious text and tend to produce some of the most bloated unmanagable code bases I've run into

I wouldn't even say his work is valueless but it's a horrible starting point and shouldn't be a destiation

Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by teddyh on Monday December 05, 2022 @05:36AM (#33863781)
Again, criticism without specifics.

And people misinterpreting and doing bad things (which he would agree is bad), is that his fault?

Re:Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software e... by charles_f on Sunday December 04, 2022 @04:07PM (#33857898)
To the point of the question I would much more recommend "Clean Coder" by uncle bob, which mostly deals about the professional ethics of software development