- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Addison Wesley; 1 edition (5 Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0201616416
- ISBN-13: 978-0201616415
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 18.5 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 392,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Kent Beck's eXtreme Programming eXplained provides an intriguing high-level overview of the author's Extreme Programming (XP) software development methodology. Written for IS managers, project leaders or programmers, this guide provides a glimpse at the principles behind XP and its potential advantages for small to mid-sized software development teams.
The book intends to describe what XP is, its guiding principles and how it works. Simply written, the book avoids case studies and concrete details in demonstrating the efficacy of XP. Instead, the author demonstrates how XP relies on simplicity, unit testing, programming in pairs, communal ownership of code and customer input on software for to motivate code improvement during the development process. As the author notes, these principles are not new, but when combined, their synergy fosters a new and arguably better way to build and maintain software. Throughout the book, the author presents and explains these principles, such as "rapid feedback" and "play to win," which form the basis of XP.
Generally speaking, XP changes the way programmers work. The book is good at delineating new roles for programmers and managers who Beck calls "coaches." The most striking characteristic of XP is that programmers work in pairs and that testing is an intrinsic part of the coding process. In a later section, the author even shows where XP works and where it doesn't, and offers suggestions for migrating teams and organizations over to the XP process.
In the afterword, the author recounts the experiences that led him to develop and refine XP, an insightful section that should inspire any organisation to adopt XP. This book serves as a useful introduction to the philosophy and practice of XP for the manager or programmer who want a potentially better way to build software. --Richard Dragan, Amazon.com
Topics covered: Extreme Programming (XP) software methodology, principles, XP team roles, facilities design, testing, refactoring, the XP software lifecycle, adopting XP.
Product Description
The new concept of Extreme Programming (XP) is gaining more and more acceptance, partially because it is controversial, but primarily because it is particularly well-suited to help the small software development team succeed. This book serves as the introduction to XP that the market will need. XP is controversial, many software development sacred cows don't make the cut in XP; it forces practitioners to take a fresh look at how software is developed. The author recognizes that this "lightweight" methodology is not for everyone. However, anyone interested in discovering what this new concept can offer them will want to start with this book.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting read on the techniques that Kent Beck has found to work best when developing software. I personally wouldn't see myself adopting XP to the letter. But it does put a perspective on things and makes you doubt the way you do certain things when writing software. Developers need to be reminded that their way is not necessarily the best way and this book provides very useful ideas on how to improve your game. Most of the ideas are appealing because they clearly would make life easier in the long term, but the downside being they require significant change or investment in the short term. This book has definitely inspired me to rethink my way of working. Now all I need to do is implement those ideas...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book offers simple, crystal clear guidance on how to make small teams develop software faster with higher quality. I think ultimately the system can offer programmers an environment in which they can have a lot more fun doing their work. Following the system will, I am sure lead to participants feelling better about their work and give golden opportunities to develop new skills faster through pair programming with more experienced engineers.
I think the pair programming concept is the biggest challenge to established ideas - but it really works - I have tried it many times.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The semi-formal introduction to managing uncertainty through an analogy with Options and their pricing was very insightful and revealing. Though brief, that section alone cogently makes the case for replacing speculative software feature building time with early product releases and customer feedback. This feedback then drives directed feature building instead. A book with many good ideas aimed at the software development manager or lead techie.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is a very poor book
To characterise the negative reviews as resulting from ignorance is to critique with the same quality of argument that Beck provides in this book. Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by Steve X
Easy to read and very interesting content
Really an interesting book. It talks about EXtreme Programming keeping it clear and understandable. I'm writing my degree thesys about Extreme Programming and this book is really... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2003 by "bizzosoft"
Some usefull thoughts, but not a solution for all
Beck gives some very interesting arguments, and I would recommened this book to developers and managers just to hear him out and read about some interesting ideas. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2001
IMPRACTICAL
As an experienced software developer and someone who has worked in XP environment I find this book meaningless and its recommendations absolutely impractical. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2001
Excellent book, easy to read and digest. Does it work though
I found this a really easy book to read. Written in a style that could be rapidly understood. My only real mis-giving is that the process described just seems to be too easy. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2001
V.Good but . . .
I really enjoyed this book and found it very useful. I liked the ideas and am eager to try it once my colleagues have read it too. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2000 by clivesw@mi-king.co.uk
Accessible XP, ideal for bringing management on board!
This book is the essential first primer for anyone wondering what XP is, whether evaluating it for their own project or having joined an XP team. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2000
Insanely *good*.
This book is definitely worth the money. No question. You may not agree with everything in XP, but you will certainly be thinking again about your methodologies. Read more
Published on 18 May 2000
Excellent
An excellent book. Distilled programming wisdom. Provides a micro-process for software development. An excellent recipe for small hyper productive development teams.
Published on 27 Nov 1999
An excellent book about excellent approach to sw development
Not only describes XP very well, but also explains why it works. It is full of practical and useful insights (even more so than 'The Mythical Man Month') - it's obviously the... Read more
Published on 5 Nov 1999 by ivan_r_moore@hotmail.com
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