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Contents:

Praise:

There is a part of Extreme Programming which celebrates excellence in programming in service to a customer, someone who needs computation but doesn't have the skill/patience/mania necessary to program. I'm always looking for win-wins. Gratuitous virtuosity is a win for the programmer, but a lose for the customer, because they end up with a program that no one (sometimes not even the original author) can touch without causing damage. What I like most about your book is that it presents some pretty pointy hat programming techniques, but uses them to create power for a customer, XP-style.

-- Kent Beck

Great book - very useful information and examples. It inspired me to review our processes yet again.

-- Chris Hutchinson

It is one of the best resources I have struck to introduce Extreme Programming to newbies. I have found that most references to Extreme Programming are not overly helpful when you are trying to get started down the XP path.

-- Lance Wicks

I rarely recommend techie books, but this is one you really have to read. I've been programming for something like 35 years, and I learned a lot from this book. If you write software, you should read this book.

One thing that is compelling is that I've known the author for perhaps 20 years. He is one of the most thoughtful and intelligent technologists I know, and I respect whatever he says out of reflex.

If there is one thing about the book that I must caution you about, it is that it is terrifying. Rob is doing things (not discussing theoretical concepts, but actually doing them) that I fear I can never achieve. I wish I could take the next step, and try to adopt some of his practices, but it may never happen.

That said, I learned a LOT just reading the book. I expect that you will, too. Give it a try, even if you know nothing about extreme programming or Perl. I didn't!

-- Jon Bondy