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

by Ed Burns (Author)
Key Phrases: rock star programmers, continual optimizer, developer proficiency, Secrets of the Rock Star Programmers, The Java Posse, Andy Hunt (more...)

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: #686,565 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 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.

3 of 3 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.

4 of 5 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.