The Software Essays That Shaped Me
15 hours ago
- #programming-essays
- #developer-productivity
- #software-engineering
- The author reflects on influential software essays that shaped their thinking over 20 years in programming.
- Highlights 'The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code' by Joel Spolsky, emphasizing respect for developers and better team investment.
- Discusses 'Parse, don’t validate' by Alexis King, advocating for type safety and validation through parsing in any statically typed language.
- Mentions 'No Silver Bullet' by Fred Brooks, differentiating essential vs. accidental complexity in software engineering.
- Shares insights from 'Choices' by Joel Spolsky on minimizing user decisions in UI design.
- Recalls Raymond Chen's post on application compatibility, highlighting the importance of user behavior influence.
- Reflects on 'Don’t Put Logic in Tests' by Erik Kuefler, advocating for clarity over DRY in test code.
- Praises Julia Evans' 'A little bit of plain Javascript can do a lot' for simplifying web development without frameworks.
- Endorses 'Choose Boring Technology' by Dan McKinley, recommending proven technologies over trendy ones.
- Considers 'I’ve locked myself out of my digital life' by Terence Eden, emphasizing digital disaster preparedness.
- Quotes Brad Fitzpatrick on user input parsing, advocating for flexible data entry formats.