ŷ

Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code

Rate this book
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.

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

37 people are currently reading
476 people want to read

About the author

Pete Goodliffe

5books7followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
42 (30%)
4 stars
51 (36%)
3 stars
36 (25%)
2 stars
10 (7%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Irwan.
Author8 books115 followers
July 20, 2007
This books contains many useful practices to be a good programmers. A little too verbose for my taste. I moved fast through the main points to get the general ideas. Probably useful as a reference when you write code.
Profile Image for Maxat.
57 reviews3 followers
February 28, 2017
Интересная книга. Пит Гудлиф попытался объять необъятное в данной книге. Начиная с простых вещей такие как написание комментария, заканчивая проектированием и управлением проектом. Цель книги передать весь процесс "ремесла программиста", я думаю, книге это удалось. Книга зависит от уровня подготовки программиста, если вы опытный программист, я думаю, последние несколько глав будут для вас более интересны, но они только приоткрывают занавес о том, что такое планирование разработки, как управлять сложностью разработки ПО. Первые несколько глав, я думаю, не будут особенно интересны разработчикам, которые используют инструменты в настоящем времени, так как инструменты, которые Пит упоминает уже достаточно устарели и на самом деле уже не нужны (Subversion, CVS и тп).

Характер повестования книги является самой сильной стороной книги. Каждая глава разделена на несколько частей, в начале каждой главы указана цитата, которая задает настроение всей главе, далее идут важные сноски в виде важных исторических фактов или реальных примеров из индустрии. Несмотря на колоссальный размер книги, ни одна глава не читается как сухой материал. В сравнении с Code Complete, данная книга читается более увлекательно, но и соответственно менее глубоко покрывает некоторые темы разработки ПО. Важно упомянуть искреннее желание Пита в попытке передать свой опыт начинающим программистам, в конце каждой главы есть иллюстрация, которая помогает ещё лучше понять концепты описанные в главе, а также сравнение плохого программиста и хорошего. Самое важное в книге было для меня - контрольные вопросы, я думаю это истинный показатель насколько автор пытается передать и научить материалу. Превосходная работа от Пита!

Мне кажется вариант прочтения это книги от корки до корки слишком тяжеловесен. Данная книга разделённая на 2-3 тематические книги дали бы намного больше эффекта для пользователей. Тем не менее, прекрасная книга для среднего уровня программистов (я). При прочтении у меня уже есть какой-то опыт разработки, о котором говорит Пит, но и уже есть жажда изучит большее.
22 reviews
Read
July 15, 2017
Codecrafting

Initialize variables when you define them
Make as many variables as you can Constants because it prevents you from modify data that is off limit.
Good codeers think carefully abot the code they write as they write it
Avoid data, object, value and type in naming, dont use temp unless you really need it
Be varey of names that sound similar
When naming balance length, clearity, context
Intead of IStylable
If a value cant be negative use a unsigned int
Never set variables to a numer use constant same goes for strings
Set public methods before private methods
Add a header wite a description of the class Purpose: clear cache
Add purpose to the method commenting
Dont return nonsensicall error, present the errer in its contex
Set you ide commen text to green to accosiate positivness with comments
When writing comments ask why, not how
Work enough not hard
Breakwater comments are good to navigate around code
//xxx indicade kludge
Use assertion functions to determin if inputdata to ensure you have been given correct and consistent data.
Check all input from external sources for validity before use
STrive for Sese single entry single exit
Use try catch when checking for error in run code
Tuple is when you return an object wide data and error message
Code metrics: A high cyclomatic complexity implies that the code is uninteligable and considering the amount of decision points and potental flow of control

Con
Negative attitude to code,
Way to long and repetive
Advices contridict each other
Just another feel good book that actually dont make you feel good

Pro first 200 pages is ok, rest is just summay from other books and doesnt say anythimg new
20 reviews3 followers
November 21, 2020
It is a book with much more relevant content than "the pragmatic programmer", from the point of view that it gives a much more human approach to the programmer's activity.

It has chapters dedicated to how to deal with certain human profiles, as the guru, the fresh programmer, discusses how to induce the position to people who have just started, where to be careful so that people do not feel frustrated.

From a technical point of view, it touches on interesting topics, such as how different architectures influence your way of programming. The book is easy to read and has a great mood. For example, he raises punishments like "30 lashes with a wet noodle."

Then he discusses how to approach projects that have "high performance" as a requirement, and the price that is paid for writing code that is highly performant.

Something to highlight: at the end of each chapter there is a questionnaire divided into 2 parts, the first to see if you understood the ideas, and the second part called "getting personal", which raises introspection exercises to see if you have vices to avoid.

Another interesting thing, it is not necessary to read the book from cover to cover, you can use it as reference material to solve specific problems, such as when you have doubts about how to face code reviews or if you have a conflict with someone at work or with the project where you're.

I strongly recommend reading it in print. Checking the solutions of the questionnaires at the end of each chapter is very uncomfortable in kindle format.
Profile Image for John.
32 reviews5 followers
February 21, 2008
Not so insightful that you're likely to learn anything; not so boring that you won't be able to finish. A lot of people are seriously into this completely true and pretty decent book about good programming habits, beginning software design, and anecdotal forays into corporate ITdom.

You might like it, somehow. Who knows, I may have passed by some real gems hiding in between the lines. I don't want to leap to the conclusion that it's pedestrian; if I knew any young people who were leaning into programming, I would immediately pick this one up for them. I mean, it's perfect.

Ohhhhhhh...

I just realized I wrote a pretty middling review about a book that nowhere explicitly stated that it was intended for pre-academic coders, and is a perfect and natural fit for that audience. Even the cover connotes young adulthood with its superglue and plastic model sprue. I'm upping my review to four stars and recommending this enthusiastically to anyone 10-20 with no academic or professional software experience. Hooray for that!
Profile Image for Sean.
357 reviews2 followers
May 23, 2021
Great advice on coding, a bit out of date on methodologies. About half the book is amazingly good stuff.
Profile Image for Robert Kennedy.
23 reviews
March 31, 2011
I think I read this my Sophomore year as a CompSci major and at the time I thought it was amazing. Thumbing through it the other day it seems like common sense knowledge that every software developer should know, with some humorous fluff tossed in to make reading about Software Engineering and Development as interesting as it could realistically be. I would recommend this to any younger programmers (high school, early undergrad) but don't expect to get much out of it if you've been in the trenches for a while.
Profile Image for Graham Lee.
119 reviews28 followers
November 18, 2013
I think this is the book I wanted when I read Code Complete instead. Some of the chapters involve egg-sucking lessons but the questions at the end of each chapter make for good reflective or group chat exercises.
5 reviews1 follower
May 6, 2012
Good, but very high level and simple. Clearly aimed at people still in college.
Profile Image for Greg Stoll.
349 reviews13 followers
May 11, 2012
As David said, decent book but pretty simple.
Profile Image for Arun.
207 reviews64 followers
Want to read
June 19, 2017
Hoping this would be as good as pragmatic programmer
Profile Image for Dan.
87 reviews
Want to read
December 25, 2017
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.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.