Mastering Programming

Through one mean or another, I end up rereading Kent Beck’s amazing article “Mastering Programming” every few months.

It perfectly synthesises the traits we should try to incorporate into our day to day as engineers.

  • Focus on one small measurable task at a time.
  • If a change is hard; refactor the system before making the change.
  • Create a minimal reproducible test case preferably as an automated test.
  • Make it run, make it right, make it fast.
  • Focus on your personal growth, the 80/15/5 rule is a good approximation.