Becoming a Better Developer

This is a compilation of articles about becoming a better software developer.

• Just In Time, Not Just In Case argues why you should write code when it is needed not in case it is needed. In other words, solve the problem at hand, not other future potential future issues. The reason for this is simple; code written just in case sits and rots. So why are you writing it?

• Correct, Beautiful, Fast (In That Order) expands on the order of writing code from the book Beautiful Code.

• Becomming a Better Programmer by Not Programming argues that becoming a better programmer is not about writing more more code but developing all the other skills that go with programming.

• The Master, The Expert, The Programmer offers a explanation of the difference between a master and an expert in martial arts and how that applies to programming.

• How to be a programmer provides a comprehensive summary of all the skills you need to be a programmer (not just the technical skills) and how to develop them.

• Top 6 List of Programming Top 10 lists offers excellent programming advice in list format with lots of reference links to useful articles and books.

• Recommended reading list of programming books.

• The Joel test - 12 Steps to Better Code provides a list of attributes of a good software development team.

• Math for Programmers talks about why you need to know math as a programmer and more importantly what math skills you really need.

• The Road to Becoming an Alpha Programmer offers a number of references that you should become familar with if you're going to be a half-decent programmer.

• Avoid being a Magpie Developer talks about avoiding the common trap that a lot of developers fall into which is going out and collecting new and shiny playthings (programming languages, tools etc).

• Tour de Babel is Steve Yegge's rant about various programming languages.

• Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Mistakes gives you a check list of security problems to watch out for in your code.