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The Pragmatic Programmer is highly recommended by many people. I've just finished reading it, and I can see why people recommend it, although I would point out that Code Complete covers almost all of the same material in much more depth.
However, one thing that bugged me was the way the authors never mentioned any downsides of flexibility, generalising, and leaving room for future development. Those concepts are all very good, but what happened to the principle of YAGNI (You Ain't Gonna Need It), which prevents developers wasting their time implementing flexibility that's never going to be used?
A search of SO reveals 400 questions about YAGNI, so I doubt the concept was too obscure for the authors. I am, of course, nowhere near as experienced as them, so why didn't they mention any use of restraint throughout the book?
Thanks.
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Pragmatic programmers fix the code, not the blame, it doesn't matter whether the bug is your fault or someone else's. It's still your problem. Remember to communicate with your team so you can create a common healthy culture.
Pragmatic Programmers are not wedded to a particular methodology, language, operating system, notation, whatever. Instead, they use their experience, combined with research, to choose the most appropriate combinations of tools for the job at hand. Pragmatic Programmers are not hammer wielders in search of nails.
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master is a book about computer programming and software engineering, written by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas and published in October 1999.
It's definitely a must-read book for programmers and even people managing programmers. Initially released in 1999, The Pragmatic Programmer is a book about becoming a Pragmatic Programmer - programmer that's a true professional in their craft.
They don't call it YAGNI, but there is keyword on page 11 that has at least the the same focus:
Know When to stop!
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