1. A Pragmatic Philosophy.
The Cat Ate My Source Code
Software Entropy
Stone Soup and Boiled Frogs
Good-Enough Software
Your Knowledge Portfolio
Communicate
2. A Pragmatic Approach
The Evils of Duplication
Orthogonality
Reversibility
Tracer Bullets
Prototypes and Post-it Notes
Domain Languages
Estimating
3. The Basic Tools
The Power of Plain Text
Shell Games
Power Editing
Source Code Control
Debugging
Text Manipulation
Code Generators
4. Pragmatic Paranoia
Design by Contract
Dead Programs Tell No Lies
Assertive Programming
When to Use Exceptions
How to Balance Resources
5. Bend, or Break
Decoupling and the Law of Demeter
Metaprogramming
Temporal Coupling
It's Just a View
Blackboards
6. While You Are Coding
Programming by Coincidence
Algorithm Speed
Refactoring
Code That's Easy to Test
Evil Wizards
7. Before the Project
The Requirements Pit
Solving Impossible Puzzles
Not Until You're Ready.
The Specification Trap
Circles and Arrows
8. Pragmatic Projects
Pragmatic Teams
Ubiquitous Automation
Ruthless Testing
It's All Writing
Great Expectations
Appendices

About the Author

Andy Hunt is an avid woodworker and musician, but, curiously, he is more in demand as a consultant. He has worked in telecommunications, banking, financial services, and utilities, as well as in more exotic fields, such as medical imaging, graphic arts, and Internet services. Andy specializes in blending tried-and-true techniques with leading-edge technologies, creating novel--but practical--solutions. Andy owns his own consulting business in Raleigh, North Carolina. Dave Thomas likes to fly single-engine airplanes and pays for his habit by finding elegant solutions to difficult problems, consulting in areas as diverse as aerospace, banking, financial services, telecommunications, travel and transport, and the Internet. Before moving to the United States in 1994, Dave founded an ISO9001-certified English software company that delivered sophisticated, custom software projects throughout the world. Dave is now an independent consultant based in Dallas, Texas.

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About the Author