or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
54 used & new from $4.41

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT Crest
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT Crest (Paperback)

~ Ed Burns (Author)
Key Phrases: rock star programmers, continual optimizer, developer proficiency, Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers, The Java Posse, Andy Hunt (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

List Price: $24.99
Price: $18.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $6.00 (24%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Wednesday, November 11? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
37 new from $5.22 17 used from $4.41

Frequently Bought Together

Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT Crest + Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship + Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Price For All Three: $89.65

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT Crest by Ed Burns

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Productive Programmer (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))

The Productive Programmer (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))

by Neal Ford
4.4 out of 5 stars (22)  $26.40
Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-step Guide

Programming in Scala: A Comprehensive Step-by-step Guide

by Martin Odersky
4.9 out of 5 stars (18)  $31.49
Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer (Pragmatic Programmers)

Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer (Pragmatic Programmers)

by Venkat Subramaniam
4.6 out of 5 stars (14)  $23.07
Spring Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Books for Professionals by Professionals)

Spring Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Books for Professionals by Professionals)

by Gary Mak
4.8 out of 5 stars (24)  $33.64
97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know

97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know

by Richard Monson-Haefel
3.6 out of 5 stars (16)  $23.09
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A-list Programmers Reveal How to Develop Breakout Skills

Find out what it takes to push your programming chops to the next level and design killer software by getting inside the minds of today's rock star programmers:

  • Rod Johnson, Inventor of the Spring Framework
  • Adrian Colyer, Pioneer of Aspect Oriented Programming Tools, Project Lead of AspectJ
  • Java Posse--Tor Norbye, Joe Nuxoll, Carl Quinn, and Dick Wall
  • Chris Wilson, Lead Architect of Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Nikhil Kothari, Architect of ASP.NET AJAX
  • Hani Suleiman, Author of "The Bile Blog"
  • James Gosling, Father of Java
  • Kohsuke Kawaguchi, Creator of the Hudson Continuous Integration Tool
  • Herb Schildt, The World's Bestselling Programming Author
  • Floyd Marinescu, Co-founder of ServerSide.com; Founder and Lead Editor of InfoQ.com
  • Andy Hunt, Co-founder of the Pragmatic Programmers
  • Dave Thomas, Object Oriented Software Pioneer
  • Max Levchin, Co-founder and Former CTO of PayPal
  • Libor Michalek, Co-founder of Slide.com
  • Weird Al Yankovic, The Programmer's Rock Star


About the Author

Ed Burns is a senior software engineer at Sun Microsystems and a well-known personality in the enterprise IT profession. He is the author of McGraw-Hill's JavaServer Faces:The Complete Reference.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (February 21, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0071490833
  • ISBN-13: 978-0071490832
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #775,154 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Inside This Book (learn more)

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars OK light reading if you're interested in IT personalities, March 4, 2008
By calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
This book doesn't have any code tricks. It is just a series of interviews with people who have been instrumental in the software and IT industry over the past twenty years with an emphasis on more recent contributors. It mainly goes over how they look at problems and how they solve problems, with a good mix between their approaches to hard and soft skills. If you are a student doing a paper on the history of computing I'd say it would probably give you a pretty good look at some of the personalities involved in computing on which it is difficult to find much written. For example, James Gosling is the father of the Java language, but it is difficult to find any information on his approach to technical problems and his personality in general. This book gives you that kind of insight on Gosling and on other specific personalities that are leaders in the IT field. The final chapter on Weird Al Yankovic is rather strange, since he has nothing to do with the IT field and his intro has his qualifications listed as "The Programmer's Rock Star". I'm not sure how true that is, but it is an amusing chapter.

It's not for everyone, but it is a rare source for this kind of information.
Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars great read, June 8, 2008
By Steve McManus (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
I found this book a great read for a variety of reasons. I don't have an IT background but I enjoy reading about groundbreakers and top performers in any field -- hence my interest in the book. The author does a great job of getting at why these folks are RockStars and how they all think about programming and software. But it also does a great job of getting at the issues they face that we all share -- how do I keep up with the deluge of information in my field, how do I stay current with trends and changes in the industry, how do I maintain a work/life balance, etc? And for those with an IT background, there is some very technical information as well. And with the great interview with Weird Al at the end, there is something here for everyone. You'll find value in this book if you don't know COBOL from Ajax, are in CS 101, or are a 20 year industry veteran.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Unique idea, execution a bit lacking, March 22, 2008
By S. Perry "sp" (los angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I got this book because I liked the idea very much. I gave it 3 stars because some of the questions and info he presents seemed to be irrelevant. For example, he has these general questions he asks all the programmers (in addition to the unique questions). Questions like, "how important is it to be aware of your own ignorance?", "how important is it to be thinking about how you're thinking?", just strike me as rhetoric and a bit "boring". Also on each programmer he has a profile page like name, degree, etc. he has some irrelevant things like "Birth Order"... Birth Order?? C'mon man. Also, it would be more interesting if he were to interview some more recognizable programmers (maybe Bjarne Stroustroup that created C++, or people that made some significant technology like Craig from craig's list or Sean Fanning from Napster or the guys at Google, or maybe even Bill Gates). Alot of the people he interviewed I just didn't recognize. Also, it seems he has a bias towards the java world. What was a bit irritating is that at the end of the book he interviews Weird Al Yankovic. Again, I just felt this was irrelevant information to the subject at hand. Overall, I'm not dissapointed I got this book.. I just guess I wasn't completely satisfied after reading it.
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A rockstar programmer is... what, exactly?
After reading the book, I'm not quite certain what qualifies a programmer as being of rock star quality, and I'm not sure why "secrets" was chosen to describe the contents of the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Katrina Owen

4.0 out of 5 stars A highly valuable book for college grads and project managers
First off, you'll have to forgive this book for the title. Using the term "Rock Star Programmers" is just a piece of techie humor that was probably used to sell the book. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Randal Burgess

3.0 out of 5 stars collection of interviews
"Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers: Riding the IT Crest" is a series of 13 (or 14) interviews with different people that are known in the programming community. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Jeanne Boyarsky

3.0 out of 5 stars Ego Stroke for Java Programmers
While I like the concept and the different ways these people attack problems, I do have a bit of an issue with the Java centric cast. Read more
Published 19 months ago by James Sodini

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally - A Book On Programming I Can Read
I am not a full time programmer but I am in charge of a programming team who must trust that I know what I'm talking about when I suggest different approaches and different... Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Saxbe

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Textbooks for Kindle DX? 61 2 days ago
textbook scam 66 6 days ago
Amazon is a great place to buy textbooks! 35 19 days ago
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.