Library shelf · 10 notes

Code, design and testing

The core of the craft: writing readable code, changing it without breaking it, testing it. To start, Head First Design Patterns is the best rated of the shelf and the most accessible, and The Pragmatic Programmer gives you a shared vocabulary. Refactoring and Working Effectively with Legacy Code are for when the code already exists and you are afraid to touch it. A Philosophy of Software Design, Code Complete and Clean Code, which is dated in places, go deeper into design and software construction. The Gang of Four's Design Patterns and the books on TDD come later, once you have felt the pain they address.

Cover of Test-Driven Development with PHP 8: Build extensible, reliable, and maintainable enterprise-level applications using TDD and BDD with PHP

Test-Driven Development with PHP 8 Rainier Sarabia · 2023 A full path from ticket to CI with Behat and test-driven SOLID, on a dated Symfony 6 backdrop. 5.2/10

Cover of Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

Code Complete Steve McConnell · 2004 The practitioner's encyclopedia of software construction: evidence-based practices to tame complexity, proven across thousands of projects. 7.4/10

Cover of Working Effectively with Legacy Code

Working Effectively with Legacy Code Michael Feathers · 2004 Legacy code = code without tests: the definition that stings, and the techniques to get out without a full rewrite. 7/10

Cover of A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition

A Philosophy of Software Design, 2nd Edition John Ousterhout · 2021 The counterweight to Clean Code: deep modules, simple interfaces, by a Stanford professor. 8/10

Cover of Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software

Design Patterns Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides · 1994 The 23 names that gave the trade its vocabulary: you speak GoF without knowing it, like prose. 7.2/10

Cover of Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 2nd Edition

Refactoring Martin Fowler · 2018 The trade's core move, finally named: ~60 safe transformations, tiny steps, tests at every step. 8.2/10

Cover of Test-Driven Development: By Example

Test-Driven Development Kent Beck · 2002 The founding TDD text by Kent Beck: test first, code second, fear gone. 7.6/10

Cover of The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery (20th Anniversary Edition)

The Pragmatic Programmer David Thomas, Andrew Hunt · 2019 The developer's pocket mentor: 100 tips across 53 topics, rewritten for the cult classic's 20th anniversary. 8/10

Cover of Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Clean Code Robert C. Martin · 2008 The book that taught a generation of developers that code is read ten times more often than it is written. 6.8/10

Cover of Head First Design Patterns

Head First Design Patterns Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson · 2021 The 23 GoF patterns made digestible: illustrations, humor, and examples that finally stick. 8.8/10

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