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curioso98's review against another edition
4.0
A fast paced book containing common coding guidelines and practices that helped me improve my coding and code review process. A lot of the book is JAVA oriented (which didn't apply to me) and I skipped those parts but the rest of the sections are well thought out and useful in most practical situations.
erikars's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book, but instead I just sort of liked it. This book is a member of the extensive genre of books on how to write clean code. It sits alongside books like Code Complete by Steve McConnell[1] and many others. Where Clean Code promised to differentiate itself was in the use of three case studies -- about a third of the book -- showing Martin's code cleanup techniques in action.
However, I was disappointed by that section. As someone who codes and reviews code professionally, the case studies were not particularly enlightening. As seems obvious in retrospect, watching someone clean-up code in fairly straightforward ways is not interesting if you do and see that everyday. What I really wanted was a book on being a better code reviewer with advice on how to spot areas for improvement and convince others of the value of those improvements.
The examples could be useful for someone who isn't in a code-review-heavy environment. Martin does a reasonably good job of taking code that may seem reasonable on the surface and improving its readabilty. That said, his comments indicate that he often has a higher opinion of the cleanliness of his end result than I do.
As for the general advice and discussion of how to make clean code, I agree with a lot of his tips and disagree with others. Code cleanliness is an area where the core of just-plain-good ideas is surrounded by a nimbus of sometimes contradictory standards that people pick and choose from. The details of what you choose from the nimbus generally does not matter so much as consistency. (Of course, the real trouble occurs when people don't agree on what belongs in the core and what belongs in the nimbus.)
The book definitely was not a bad read, but it did not fit my needs.
[1] Still my favorite in the genre.
However, I was disappointed by that section. As someone who codes and reviews code professionally, the case studies were not particularly enlightening. As seems obvious in retrospect, watching someone clean-up code in fairly straightforward ways is not interesting if you do and see that everyday. What I really wanted was a book on being a better code reviewer with advice on how to spot areas for improvement and convince others of the value of those improvements.
The examples could be useful for someone who isn't in a code-review-heavy environment. Martin does a reasonably good job of taking code that may seem reasonable on the surface and improving its readabilty. That said, his comments indicate that he often has a higher opinion of the cleanliness of his end result than I do.
As for the general advice and discussion of how to make clean code, I agree with a lot of his tips and disagree with others. Code cleanliness is an area where the core of just-plain-good ideas is surrounded by a nimbus of sometimes contradictory standards that people pick and choose from. The details of what you choose from the nimbus generally does not matter so much as consistency. (Of course, the real trouble occurs when people don't agree on what belongs in the core and what belongs in the nimbus.)
The book definitely was not a bad read, but it did not fit my needs.
[1] Still my favorite in the genre.
jldavis's review against another edition
5.0
This book had a great presentation. I loved the short concise chapters followed up with the 3 case study chapters that pulls all the previous topics together.
I can already see how it has benefited my thinking around code and how I write it.
I can already see how it has benefited my thinking around code and how I write it.
derivative's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
not that interesting to read and it feels very "purist" , in the sense that it doesnt seem to acknowledge how to balance refactoring with other code changes. im guessing the legacy code book in this series is more focused on that. but it felt v annoying to read like "keep everything up to date always clean everything u touch" when thats not possible in a huge codebase.
its also VERY java specific in some chapters, and OOP oriented when its not java oriented. in the age of web development, this isnt as useful for everyone depending on your tech stack
however, the actual principles discussed are great and have changed how i write and review code. but like there are articles that summarize these points just as well, it isnt that helpful to read the entire book
its also VERY java specific in some chapters, and OOP oriented when its not java oriented. in the age of web development, this isnt as useful for everyone depending on your tech stack
however, the actual principles discussed are great and have changed how i write and review code. but like there are articles that summarize these points just as well, it isnt that helpful to read the entire book
radorachev's review against another edition
3.0
Сравнително нова книга, съдържаща по-опростено съдържание на основни книги като Code Complete, Design Patterns, и др. Явно произволното Agile в името продава. Във втората половина на книгата има няколко интересни примера, които прилагат напрактика показаните съвети.