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Title: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck ISBN: 0-201-61641-6 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.87 (108 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Introduction, but Needs More Teeth
Comment: Kent Beck's book does a good job of synthesizing a lot of programming concepts and putting them forward as a coherent methodology. The book is deceptively easy to read, though that's not necessarily what I look for in a book on theory and methodology. I look for a challenge, because that means I'm learning something difficult.
As it turns out, the difficulty is not in learning XP concepts, but putting them to work in your everyday software development process. Here Mr. Beck's book falls way short. To fill in the gaps, I recommend Rick Hightower's "Java Tools for Extreme Programming"--it gives you detailed information for coding and building tests using open source tools. The books complement each other and together present a complete thought on XP development.
Rating: 5
Summary: Simple and elegant introduction to a fast paced methodology.
Comment: Extreme Programming (XP) is an interesting concept-- I haven't decided if it's completely feasible or not, but it certainly is interested. Beck outlines his methodology in a very simple and elegant manner. The book is light-reading,b ut never childish.
XP promotes several worthwhile concepts-- collective owenership (if you find a problem, you fix it, you don't find the owner of the problem), authomated unit testing (write tests once, run them everytime you make a change), heavy communication, and severe flexibility.
The element that most people bite on beyond this is pair programming-- two programmers side by side working on one problem. Another reviewer felt that programming requires a certain depth of concentration to perform, and that a second body could be deterimental to this. I tend to disagree, but I also have a very light-weight, on-the-fly style in my software development style. But then again, I'm a jazz musician writing code, so that only makes sense. :)
Even if you don't embrace all of it (and I'm still not convinced on some issues, like pair programming), it's a worthwhile read for the unit testing bits alone.
Rating: 3
Summary: eXtreme buzzwording
Comment: Maybe it's an interesting idea, but it's just not ready for prime time.
Parts of Kent's recommended practice - including aggressive testing and short integration cycle - make a lot of sense. I've shared the same beliefs for years, but it was good to see them clarified and codified. I really have changed some of my practice after reading this and books like this.
I have two broad kinds of problem with this dogma, though. First is the near-abolition of documentation. I can't defend 2000 page specs for typical kinds of development. On the other hand, declaring that the test suite is the spec doesn't do it for me either. The test suite is code, written for machine interpretation. Much too often, it is not written for human interpretation. Based on the way I see most code written, it would be a nightmare to reverse engineer the human meaning out of any non-trivial test code. Some systematic way of ensuring human intelligibility in the code, traceable to specific "stories" (because "requirements" are part of the bad old way), would give me a lot more confidence in the approach.
The second is the dictatorial social engineering that eXtremity mandates. I've actually tried the pair programming - what a disaster. The less said the better, except that my experience did not actually destroy any professional relationships. I've also worked with people who felt that their slightest whim was adequate reason to interfere with my work. That's what Beck institutionalizes by saying that any request made of me by anyone on the team must be granted. It puts me completely at the mercy of anyone walking by. The requisite bullpen physical environment doesn't work for me either. I find that the visual and auditory distraction make intense concentration impossible.
I find revival tent spirit of the eXtremists very off-putting. If something works, it works for reasons, not as a matter of faith. I find much too much eXhortation to believe, to go ahead and leap in, so that I will eXperience the wonderfulness for myself. Isn't that what the evangelist on the subway platform keeps saying? Beck does acknowledge unbelievers like me, but requires their exile in order to maintain the group-think of the X-cult.
Beck's last chapters note a number of exceptions and special cases where eXtremism may not work - actually, most of the projects I've ever encountered.
There certainly is good in the eXtreme practice. I look to future authors to tease that good out from the positively destructive threads that I see interwoven.
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Title: Planning Extreme Programming by Kent Beck, Martin Fowler ISBN: 0201710919 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 13 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $32.99 |
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Title: Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts ISBN: 0201485672 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 28 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $54.99 |
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Title: Test Driven Development: By Example by Kent Beck ISBN: 0321146530 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 08 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Extreme Programming Applied: Playing to Win by Ken Auer, Roy Miller ISBN: 0201616408 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $36.99 |
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Title: Extreme Programming Installed by Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson ISBN: 0201708426 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 13 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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