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firat's review against another edition
5.0
This is by far the most concrete and example driven book I've read on how to write clean code. And I want to say that this is currently the number one book I would recommend to every software development professional.
In summary there are 2 ways to write clean code:
1- Use every single brain cell you have before writing your code for the best possible design
2- Refactor along as the code matures and requirements change
I have almost always seen that is much safer to go with the second option.
The book talks about refactorings we do everyday, only gives them proper names and uses them as nouns. So instead of telling us to 'extract' the method Fowler uses the phrase "Use 'Extract Method'". This actually helps you remember the methods by their titles. This gets useful when he explains more complex refactorings. He explains the more complex refactorings by using simpler refactorings(which actually feels like re-using code, but now it is a refactoring method).
The only complaint I have with this book is the examples of mirrored refactorings. The examples did not justify them well. The codes in the examples were exactly the same but only the before and after had switched places. I would have preferred examples that made sense to apply the changes instead of a lame excuse that tells me that I might need to do 'this refactoring' in some situations. But luckily this was only a concern in a few chapters. Most of the refactorings Fowler applied on the book just made sense and made the code better.
Thank you Martin Fowler Sir for writing this book. I hope we can one day meet each other in real life.
In summary there are 2 ways to write clean code:
1- Use every single brain cell you have before writing your code for the best possible design
2- Refactor along as the code matures and requirements change
I have almost always seen that is much safer to go with the second option.
The book talks about refactorings we do everyday, only gives them proper names and uses them as nouns. So instead of telling us to 'extract' the method Fowler uses the phrase "Use 'Extract Method'". This actually helps you remember the methods by their titles. This gets useful when he explains more complex refactorings. He explains the more complex refactorings by using simpler refactorings(which actually feels like re-using code, but now it is a refactoring method).
The only complaint I have with this book is the examples of mirrored refactorings. The examples did not justify them well. The codes in the examples were exactly the same but only the before and after had switched places. I would have preferred examples that made sense to apply the changes instead of a lame excuse that tells me that I might need to do 'this refactoring' in some situations. But luckily this was only a concern in a few chapters. Most of the refactorings Fowler applied on the book just made sense and made the code better.
Thank you Martin Fowler Sir for writing this book. I hope we can one day meet each other in real life.
miguel_ocana's review against another edition
4.0
Además de un 'Must Read' es un libro al que hay que volver cada cierto tiempo.
Los consejos y puntos claves están escondidos entre la colección de refactors que va explicando.
De vez en cuando también incluye alguna perla de humor inglés.
Algunos Refactors pueden parecer muy simples, pero son necesarios ya que va apoyándose en los simples para ir construyendo los más grandes.
También hay mucha insistencia en las mecánicas y su importancia, en principio puedes pasar de forma superficial, pero el libro esconde lo necesario para realizar los refactors sin perder en ningún momento la capacidad de compilar y pasar todos los tests en verde.
Es curioso ver como cada refactor tiene su refactor contrario, como todo en informática, no existe una única forma correcta de hacer las cosas, y dependiendo mucho de la situación y el problema encontrado se recomienda un cambio o el contrario.
El libro tecnológicamente está desactualizado, pero su mensaje es asombrosamente vigente.
Le he quitado la quinta estrella porque se centra en los refactors sin entrar en cómo tejer la red de tests unitarios que se debe tener para empezar a hacerlos.
Los consejos y puntos claves están escondidos entre la colección de refactors que va explicando.
De vez en cuando también incluye alguna perla de humor inglés.
Algunos Refactors pueden parecer muy simples, pero son necesarios ya que va apoyándose en los simples para ir construyendo los más grandes.
También hay mucha insistencia en las mecánicas y su importancia, en principio puedes pasar de forma superficial, pero el libro esconde lo necesario para realizar los refactors sin perder en ningún momento la capacidad de compilar y pasar todos los tests en verde.
Es curioso ver como cada refactor tiene su refactor contrario, como todo en informática, no existe una única forma correcta de hacer las cosas, y dependiendo mucho de la situación y el problema encontrado se recomienda un cambio o el contrario.
El libro tecnológicamente está desactualizado, pero su mensaje es asombrosamente vigente.
Le he quitado la quinta estrella porque se centra en los refactors sin entrar en cómo tejer la red de tests unitarios que se debe tener para empezar a hacerlos.
orangejenny's review against another edition
4.0
Moderately OO-specific and somewhat dated, but still worthwhile, good enough that I'm planning to read the second edition when it comes out.
jamiely's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful, practical guide to refactoring, reading this book fleshed out many of the things I have become aware of within the past several years, as I mature in the practice of developing software and strive not only for quality of behavior but ease of understanding and maintenance. This book is indispensable reading for those aspiring to be true engineers, and my only complaint is that I wish I'd read the book when I was first starting my career.
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