The Rules of Programming

How to Write Better Code

Author: Chris Zimmerman

Paperback

This philosophy-of-programming guide presents a unique and entertaining take on how to think about programming. A collection of 21 pragmatic rules, each presented in a standalone chapter, captures the essential wisdom that every freshly minted programmer needs to know and provides thought-provoking insights for more seasoned programmers.

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Summary

Description

This philosophy-of-programming guide provides a unique take on how to think about programming. With a collection of two dozen pragmatic rules, each presented in a standalone chapter, this hands-on book is ideal for freshly minted programmers making the jump from small programming jobs to large-scale projects and long time frame work.

Author Chris Zimmerman, cofounder of the video game studio Sucker Punch Productions, teaches basic truths of programming by wrapping them in memorable aphorisms and driving them home with examples drawn from real code. This practical guide also helps managers who are searching for methods to train new members of their programming team.

The rules in this book include:

Simpler is always better
Let your code tell its own story
Localize complexity
Generalization takes three examples
Big projects need simple designs
Code that isn't running doesn't work
If something doesn't work, it's your fault
Work backwards from your result, not forward from your code
Some tools should be left in the toolbox
Not every problem lends itself to an elegant solution

About the Author

Chris Zimmerman co-founded the video game studio Sucker Punch Productions in 1997 and led the coding team through twenty-plus years of successful video games, including three Sly Cooper games and five inFamous games, culminating in 2020's Game of the Year candidate Ghost of Tsushima. He split his time between designing and writing code, like the melee combat in Ghost, and the day-to-day work of building and managing a twenty-something person coding team. Prior to Sucker Punch, Chris spent roughly a decade at Microsoft, but the things he worked on there were much less interesting. He graduated from Princeton in 1988, and as a result owns more orange clothing than you do.