Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Extreme Programming Refactored: The Case Against XP by Matt Stephens, Doug Rosenberg ISBN: 1-59059-096-1 Publisher: APress Pub. Date: 31 July, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Tight, well argued work
Comment: This is a great book if you develop software applications. It's valuable for any developer, not just those on XP projects, because a lot of the failures in the XP process are actually failures in almost any large project development and management process.
I call this book 'tight' because it is short and concise, it uses external sources appropriately, it gets to the point, it argues well, it references itself internally, and most importantly it does the information 'boil down' for you, which is what you buy books for in the first place.
There is only one downside and that is the books tendency to repeat some small quotes and sections multiple times. This is mainly an artifact of the compensation the authors have to make in the structure of the book to allow for readers to read the book chapters in random order.
One other small nitpick is that some of the example projects in the book were just CMM level 0 projects disguised as XP projects. So it's hard to equate problems in those projects with fundamental flaws in XP. Thankfully the book does not rely on that evidence alone.
The chapter hilights:
Chapter one provides an excellent case study against XP.
Chapter three provides some realistic insight into XP as it stands today, warts and all.
Chapter four on to almost the end lovingly disassembles XP tenet by tenet.
The last two chapters provide some solutions for XP projects which is important because otherwise the book would have been straight rant without providing alternatives.
All in all an outstanding book. Well worth the money.
Rating: 5
Summary: Good book, and lots of fun
Comment: Remarkably little has been published that is critical of extreme programming. "Questioning Extreme Programming" (McBreen) doesn't ask the really tough questions. Boehm and Turner's recent "Balancing Agility and Discipline" is a more even-handed exploration of agile practices--especially XP, but it's too polite and doesn't draw out the full implications of its arguments.
XP Refactored is the first book to seriously and deeply critique extreme programming. The authors poke fun at the excesses of extreme programming, of which, by the definition of "extreme," there are many. The book contains the best critique of the legendary Chrysler C3 project I've seen, including a good discussion about why it really is more myth than legend. The authors do a good job of countering Beck's claim that "turning the dial up to 10" is a good idea.
Although it isn't the most enjoyable part of the book, the most technically interesting part of the book is the chapter on "Extreme Programming Refactored." The authors see a lot of value in the specific practices of XP; they'd just like to turn the dial down from 10 on some of the practices, reorganize others, and tone down some of the religion.
For the past couple years, some XP advocates have been advocating extreme programming with a fervor normally associated with deeply held religious beliefs -- attacking whenever their belief system is questioned. Historically, humor has been a good response to religious overzealousness, and this book is hilarious. It compares XP to a ring of poisonous snakes, a failed barbecue, and many other vivid analogies.
Ultimately, this book is a polarizing book, much like XP itself. People who love XP will hate this book. People who hate XP will love this book. People who are open minded about XP will enjoy the book and get a better understanding of XP's minuses -- as well as its pluses -- at the same time.
Rating: 4
Summary: Read this book ¿ learn what XP is all about
Comment: This is very good book not only for cannot-stand-XP crowd as the title might suggest, but, surprisingly, also for a newcomer who wants to simply learn what XP is. The authors explain very nature of XP even better than 10 or so XP books written by its inventors. Prior to this book I have read a few XP articles and browsed through several XP-written-by-the-founders-books which time to time I saw on shelves of my local bookstore. I grasped the XP ideas - no problem - but it was some sort of mechanical memorization of main XP values/practices. I formed my doubts, but I never got it to the point where I can have a passionate discussion about it.
This book changed it - now I can enthusiastically argue for XP or against XP depending on the circumstances. ...The opportunity presented itself a couple a days ago. I went for an interview with a manager who, according to my inside information, was a huge XP proponent (fanatic), but the organization wasn't quite practicing XP yet. During the interview we had a good time discussing XP benefits and the trill of working in XP environment, and after the interview I had a good laugh about it - what a fool this manager was! But most importantly he liked me and there is a high probability he will come back with a job offer, unless, of cause, he reads this review. I might even take this job - why not - this is good company after all. They are at least one or two years away from really introducing mandatory pair programming, collective code ownership and other socialistic idiocies of XP. By that time I will skip to someplace else. Or, perhaps, I might even stay. I will kiss up to that manager more, it should be easy like taking candy from a child; and when time comes I will become XP team coach - not a bad career grows opportunity! Just kidding...
Back to the "Extreme Programming Refactored" book. I gave it four stars. I would give it five, if authors "refactor" the book into some 150 - 200 pages at max. I started to read from the front cover and stopped for a break only after reading 160 pages or so. "Wow, what a book! What an insight!" - I told myself. But then the "velocity" of my reading started to drop. The rest of the book did not contained really new information. The humor became less sharp and endless "songs of extremos" became a little bit annoying - I started to skip them. In the beginning of the book the authors promised to refractor XP in chapter 15. Through out the book they give a LOT of hands up about what this refactoring would look like, and as a result the long awaited chapter 15 did not contain much of a new information. After slight disappointment with chapter 15 I put the book aside and, actually, never read the conclusion (chapter 16). Still, this is very good book: not that many computer books I read in my life almost from cover to cover.
 |
Title: Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed by Barry Boehm, Richard Turner ISBN: 0321186125 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
 |
Title: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck ISBN: 0201616416 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
 |
Title: Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager's Guide by Craig Larman ISBN: 0131111558 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 15 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
 |
Title: Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects by Tom Demarco, Timothy Lister ISBN: 0932633609 Publisher: Dorset House Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
 |
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 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
