Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 624 pages
• Published by: No Starch Press December 15, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1593271190
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1593271190
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 1.7 inches
• Weighs: 2.4 pounds

Product Description
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.

Back Cover Copy
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.

Reader Reviews
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.