Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code [Paperback]

Pete Goodliffe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1593271190 | ISBN-13: 978-1593271190 | Publication Date: December 15, 2006 | Edition: 1st Ed.

Many programmers know how to write correct code - code that works. But not all know how to craft great code - code that is well written and easy to understand. Code Craft teaches programmers how to move beyond writing correct code to writing great code. The book covers code writing concerns, including code presentation style, variable naming, error handling, and security; and the wider issues of programming in the real world, such as good teamwork, development processes, and documentation. Code Craft presents language-agnostic advice that is relevant to all developers, from an author with loads of practical experience. A Q&A section at the end of each chapter helps readers to review the material and makes the book suited for academic use as well.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

You know how to write code that works, but what about code that's well written and easy to understand? And robust and bug-free? If other programmers looked at your handiwork, would they be able to figure out the code's logic and purpose? Exceptional programmers have more than just technical know-how; they adopt the right approach and attitude to development.

Code Craft will help take your programming beyond writing correct code to writing great code, thus turning you into a true programming professional or enhancing your existing professional skills.

With language-agnostic advice that's relevant to all developers, Code Craft covers code-writing concerns such as presentation style, variable naming, error handling, and security. And it tackles broader, real-world programming issues like effective teamwork, development processes, and documentation. Each chapter ends with a Q&A section that reviews key concepts to get you thinking like an expert, making it an especially great reference for newer programmers who want to work professionally and efficiently as part of a team.

This survival guide for the software factory will show you how to:
* Write good code when the world's not helping you
* Avoid disasters and distractions in the workplace
* Assess your abilities accurately and determine ways to improve
* Adopt productive attitudes and follow best practices

There's little more valuable than the advice of a true, programming professional. You'll find Code Craft to be clear, practical, and entertaining throughout, and a great way to take your code (and your career) to the next level.

About the Author

Pete Goodliffe is a senior software engineer, currently working on embedded systems in C++. He never stays at the same place in the software food chain; from bringing new systems up, writing device drivers, through OS implementation, audio codecs, JVM implementation, to MIDI sequencing applications. He writes a regular column for accu.org called Professionalism in Programming and has published articles on software development in Hardcopy, C/C++ Users Journal, and Dr Dobb's Journal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1st Ed. edition (December 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593271190
• ISBN-13: 978-1593271190
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it, March 30, 2007

By 

zepto (Dayton, NV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code (Paperback)

After reading the good, despite few, amazon reviews of this book i decided to pick it up. I'm a big fan of books that teach one how to become a better programmer. Unfortunately, i wasn't too impressed by this one. The author didn't seem to have anything super insightful or groundbreaking to share with us. He gave a description of what he considers to be good code/coders along with a really brief description of a lot of software related tools, paradigms, and 'types' of programmers.

Unfortunately he doesn't really say anything that hasn't been said. His code examples are notably poor. In Steve McConnels book, "Code Complete" he criticizes programming books for using fibonacci as an example of recursion. He criticizes it because it's not something that software developers find themselves doing often. I have the same complaint with most of the code examples in this book (so maybe it is good there are so few). It felt like my high school java teacher (who had neither a CS degree or programming experience) wrote up the code samples. You'll quickly be annoyed by the simplicity of the mistakes and concepts that he is trying to express.

As you read this book you'll find things you agree and disagree with, and you'll just want to say OK. you won't run to your computer wanting to implement them. You also won't run to your friends telling them you've found a new way to do something. I guess that is my major problem with this book, there's nothing really special about it. I also found myself wondering 'why is this important?' throughout the book quite a bit.

I found another thing in this book to be insulting, the Good Programmers Bad Programmers section after each chapter. If i didn't know the difference between a good programmer and a bad programmer i wouldn't have bought the book. They are all very similar and obvious.

I would definitely recommend the following books over it:
Code Complete
Refactoring
Pragmatic Programmer
while this book does cover some things these books say, not enough to replace any one of them, and reading any of these will provide insights this book cannot.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't read like it was written by an actual software engineer, and has a annoying/insulting tone, July 28, 2007

By 

A. Chu - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code (Paperback)

I was at the library and this happened to be next to another book that I wanted, so I picked it up too.

And wow, it's rare that I am this disappointed in a book. The content is very thin. It sounds like it was completely gathered from secondary sources, e.g. reading other books about software engineering. It doesn't sound like the result of actual experience.

Every page is filled with platitudes without any examples of real experience backing it up. I'll grant that he has assembled an extraordinarly wide range of *terms* and terminology. It looks like he has tried to shove 3 sentences about every topic in software into a single book. Unfortunately, this ultimately makes for a book with little use.

Another sticking point is the writing style. It comes off like the author is an annoying guy trying to be funny and trying to be your friend. The first sentence irritated me: "What's in it for me? Programming is your passion. It's sad, but it's true."

Huh? Why is it sad that programming is one's passion??? There are similar head-scratchers elsewhere in the book. He also devotes a section to talking about the various types of "code monkeys". And the last type is "You. In the interest of politeness, we'll say no more about this curious beast. Sadly, some people are beyond help..." What? The reader is beyond help? If I pretend for a minute that he's not insulting me, then I still don't know what he's trying to say. This book is incoherent.

And what's with all the reviews below that read like advertisements? Give me a break. It looks like a lot of the author's friends are spamming Amazon's reviews.

I recommend reading Joel Spolsky's books for real, specific insights on programming and the software development process, earned from experience, written in a much clearer and more entertaining style.

I'm also reading Jon Bentley's "Programming Pearls" now.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for a beginning pragmatic programmer, December 7, 2007

By 

Dmitry Dvoinikov (Ekaterinburg, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code (Paperback)

This one is a very good book. It is essentially a book in natural philosophy, not quite "scientific", coming from observation to show you a little bit of everything. An insight to the entire world of programming if you like.

It goes from bottom up, from coding style through techniques and tools to paradigms and architecture. A lot (A LOT) of things explained, briefly, but perfectly understandable. It lacks any analysis or in-depth discussion, but that is on purpose.

Not that many things for an experienced programmer to learn from this book though. To a point where it is boring. It took me longer to read this book through than many others, because I knew much of it in the first place.

The language of the book, the author really is in for wordplay and puns of all sorts, it's all over the place. And although I do believe that proficiency (and desire to excel) in written language is a sure indication of a great programmer, this is not always to the book's best. It sure doesn't read like a textbook, but that's ok. There were a few really good jokes, but most of it is just wordplay for its own sake. For example,

[quote]
This is the really nasty one - when your program isn't pushing up the daisies, just pining for the fjords.
[/quote]

Look, I know what "pushing up the daisies" mean, and I can deduce the meaning for "pining for the fjords" from the context, but having it written like that doesn't really help.

Like some other reviewer, I also didn't like the "good programmers" vs. "bad programmers" checklists. See, being a good programmer (aren't we all ?), I wouldn't know how bad programmers think, thus any attempt to declare "bad programmers do that" would be at best a guess.

What's really good about this book, is that it goes under a positive "do as I do" key, not a negative "don't do as I say", seen much more frequently. I'd guess that the guy is really keen on what he's doing, and you can feel it in his book.

I was pleased to see that yet another author's word supports my belief in that programming is simply patience, discipline and common sense. Oh, and PRACTICE.

Anyhow, a great book for a beginning pragmatic programmer.