Clean Code

A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

By: Robert C. Martin

Narrated by: Theodore O'Brien

Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Noted software expert Robert C. Martin presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship. Martin has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code “on the fly” into a book that will instill within you the values of a software craftsman and make you a better programmer - but only if you work at it.

Clean Code is divided into three parts.

• The first 13 chapters, fully contained in the audio, describes the principles, patterns, and practices of writing clean code.
• The second part, chapters 14 to 16, consists of several case studies of increasing complexity and is included in a pdf that comes with your purchase. Each case study is an exercise in cleaning up code - of transforming a code base that has some problems into one that is sound and efficient. You’ll be reading code - lots of code. And you will be challenged to think about what’s right about that code, and what’s wrong with it.
• The third part, chapter 17, is provided both in the audio and the pdf. It is the payoff: a single chapter containing a list of heuristics and “smells” gathered while creating the case studies. The result is a knowledge base that describes the way we think when we write, read, and clean code.

Listeners will come away from Clean Code understanding:

• How to tell the difference between good and bad code
• How to write good code and how to transform bad code into good code
• How to create good names, good functions, good objects, and good classes
• How to format code for maximum readability
• How to implement complete error handling without obscuring code logic
• How to unit test and practice test-driven development

This book is a must for any developer, software engineer, project manager, team lead, or systems analyst with an interest in producing better code.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2009 Pearson Education, Inc. (P)2021 Upfront Books

I agree with everything.

I enjoyed hearing validation and reminders of the practices I already enforce on my team.

Absolute Truths

I can’t state enough how this book has helped me become a MUCH better developer! I was taught there isn’t really a right way to do what we do but this has helped clarify a lot of wrong ways to avoid if you want to keep your hair and your sanity.

Great handbook!

This book is written with a Java context, but most rules work fine in any language. I love his suggestions, and I tried applying them after listening to the book. I love the idea of attempting to make variable names say exactly what they are doing. The same with function/method & class names. Very good advice. The supplied PDF lists all of the coding style suggestions, so you can prepare to master the suggestions. I ported a Perl project into Python, using suggestions from the book, as a test, and it works very well. The code is much more readable, and probably, a non-programmer can understand most of it.

Neat

A straight to the point guidance to good writing good code. Already trying the ideas

Very good, will listen again

I liked the quality of the book, the reading, the accompanying pdf, and the fact that it was free.

excellent

Sound advice for everyone, from beginners to experts. I will be recommending this to friends and colleagues.

Great Insights, Guides, & Recommendations

These practices require time and thought, but are truely rewarding to the developers, stakeholders, and end users.

ok solid

These things are the basics that you kinda learn from a good software engineering college class or a couple years of experience, but always a good reminder to keep things simple and small.

Fantastic Book

Both the author and narrator are fantastic. This is one of the best books on this topic.

Good concepts…very dry

I listened to this on a roadtrip for a few hours…not finished but i think i have heard enough to give it a thumbs up. So far this guy seems to use a lot of Java. He has a lot of well organized thoughts about how to write code and I’m sure I will listen a few times and revisit. I had a funny thought that the narration reminds me a little of Patrick Bateman talking about Huey Lewis.