Episode 68: Pragmatic Programmer at 20 with Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt

Pragmatic Programmer at 20 with Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt

Guests

Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt: Authors of The Pragmatic Programmer and publishers of The Pragmatic Bookshelf.

Summary

I’m very excited to have Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt on the show today. Dave and Andy are the authors of the Pragmatic Programmer, which has a 20th anniversary edition that is out now, and they are the publishers of the Pragmatic Bookshelf, where they have (full disclosure) published my books a time or two. We talk about what’s changed in the new version, what being a Pragmatic Programmer means, whether there’s still a role for tech books, and how to make automated testing pragmatic. Somehow I avoid telling the slightly embarrassing story about the bad impression I made the first time I met Dave. Enjoy.

Notes

02:52 - Revisiting the Book 20 Years Later and What Has Changed/Hasn’t Changed

06:41 - What it Means to be a Pragmatic Programmer

08:39 - Software Development as a Team Sport

12:56 - Extreme Programming Explained and The Pragmatic Programmer; Similarities and Differences

• Extreme Programming Explained
• Agile Manifesto

22:09 - Finding The Pragmatic Programmer Voice/Tone

24:55 - Roles for Dead-Tree Technical Books

30:36 - How To Make Automatic Testing Pragmatic

Special Guests: Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas.