Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 134 posts

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#121

Post by kyawzazaw »

foobazgt wrote: post #32

OP, I've been thinking about starting a column on those kinds of lines - generalized engineering advice. I have 20+ years of experience in the industry and have held both principal engineer and engineering director positions at S&P 500s. Does that hold your interest? For everyone else, I think I've created an interesting backlog of topics, but I'd love any advice about additional topics that would interest folks, how…

You might want to check this content creator on how they approach it.

https://youtube.com/@ALifeEngineered

Substack is a popular platform if you want to go longform writing route - see the pragmatic engineer

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#122

Post by cokeandpepsi »

teddyh wrote: post #69
cokeandpepsi wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robert C. Martin has ruined so many mid organizations it's kind of funny

If you want your criticism to be taken seriously, please be specific. There is apparently a large group of people who hate everything he does and also, seemingly, him personally. Everywhere he (or any of his books) is mentioned, the haters come out, with their vague “it’s all bad” and the old standard “I don’t know where to begin”. Serious criticism can be found (if you look for it), and he himself welcomes it, but t…

I don't hate everything he does and I'd imagine he's probably an interesting guy to chat with

there is a subset of 'clean code' fanatics who treat his work as religious text and tend to produce some of the most bloated unmanagable code bases I've run into

I wouldn't even say his work is valueless but it's a horrible starting point and shouldn't be a destiation

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#124

Post by mixmastamyk »

Aeolun wrote: post #104
TruffleLabs wrote: post #10

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Frederick P. Brooks * still relevant re: people are the key to getting things done; understand how people work together. https://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9780201006506

I thought this book was really fun to read, but it mostly reinforced what I already knew. The problem is my managers don’t, so having read the book doesn’t actually help in any way.

You can cite it, which in a functional place should have some weight behind it.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#125

Post by teddyh »

cokeandpepsi wrote: post #122
teddyh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want your criticism to be taken seriously, please be specific. There is apparently a large group of people who hate everything he does and also, seemingly, him personally. Everywhere he (or any of his books) is mentioned, the haters come out, with their vague “it’s all bad” and the old standard “I don’t know where to begin”. Serious criticism can be found (if you look for it), and he himself welcomes it, but t…

I don't hate everything he does and I'd imagine he's probably an interesting guy to chat with there is a subset of 'clean code' fanatics who treat his work as religious text and tend to produce some of the most bloated unmanagable code bases I've run into I wouldn't even say his work is valueless but it's a horrible starting point and shouldn't be a destiation

Again, criticism without any specifics.

And people misinterpreting and doing bad things (which he would agree is bad), is that his fault?

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#126

Post by tmaly »

tester756 wrote: post #89
teddyh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want your criticism to be taken seriously, please be specific. There is apparently a large group of people who hate everything he does and also, seemingly, him personally. Everywhere he (or any of his books) is mentioned, the haters come out, with their vague “it’s all bad” and the old standard “I don’t know where to begin”. Serious criticism can be found (if you look for it), and he himself welcomes it, but t…

Years wasted on having to convincing people that "comments are viable" because they misunderstood Clean Code

On that one point, he should issue clarification and release a new version.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#127

Post by bwb »

Michael Levine shared the best books about leading great software teams, this might be right up your alley: https://shepherd.com/best-books/if-you-want-to-lead-great-so...

And, John Sonmez wrote about great books for software developers on the soft skill size - https://shepherd.com/best-books/fun-for-software-developers

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#128

Post by teddyh »

tmaly wrote: post #126
tester756 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years wasted on having to convincing people that "comments are viable" because they misunderstood Clean Code

On that one point, he should issue clarification and release a new version.

Have you read the book? I checked it now, and I think he expresses himself quite clearly.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#129

Post by garfieldnate »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #34

My personal opinion is reading about coding does nothing. Its like reading about math without doing the exercises. You need to work on good codebases, and have your code reviewed by people who are good.

In that vein, I would love a recommendation on coding books that come with good exercises.

Re: Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?

#130

Post by tmaly »

teddyh wrote: post #128
tmaly wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On that one point, he should issue clarification and release a new version.

Have you read the book? I checked it now, and I think he expresses himself quite clearly.

Yes, I have read it. But it seems that people have confusion over this part.
Post reply on HN