Anyone who develops software for a living needs a proven way to produce it better, faster, and cheaper. This video offers critical timesaving and productivity tools that you can adopt right away, no matter what platform you use. Master developer Neal Ford not only offers advice on the mechanics of productivity -- how to work smarter, spurn interruptions, get the most out your computer, and avoid repetition -- he also details valuable practices that will help you elude common traps, improve your code, and become more valuable to your team. You’ll learn how to:
Write the test before you write the code
Manage the lifecycle of your objects fastidiously
Build only what you need now, not what you might need later
Apply ancient philosophies to software development
Question authority, rather than blindly adhere to standards
Make hard things easier and impossible things possible through meta-programming
Be sure all code within a method is at the same level of abstraction
Pick the right editor and assemble the best tools for the job
This isn’t theory, but the fruits of Ford's real-world experience as an Application Architect at the global IT consultancy ThoughtWorks. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro with years of experience, you’ll improve your work and your career with the simple and straightforward principles in The Productive Programmer.
This video captures one of the popular tutorial sessions presented at OSCON 2010, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention held in Portland, Oregon this past July. Other videos of OSCON 2010 sessions include:
Automated Infrastructure is on the Menu with Chef
Building a NoSQL Data Cloud
Cooking with jQuery
Django Deployment Workshop
Hands-on Cassandra
Introduction to Django
Observing and Optimizing your Application with DTrace
Neal is an Application Architect at ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy with an exclusive focus on end-to-end software development and delivery. Before joining ThoughtWorks, Neal was the Chief Technology Officer at The DSW Group, Ltd., a nationally recognized training and development firm. Neal has a degree in Computer Science from Georgia State University specializing in languages and compilers and a minor in mathematics specializing in statistical analysis. He is also the designer and developer of applications, instructional materials, magazine articles, video presentations, and author of the books Developing with Delphi: Object-Oriented Techniques (Prentice-Hall, 1996), JBuilder 3 Unleashed (Sams, 1999) (as the lead author), Art of Java Web Development (Manning, 2003), and No Fluff, Just Stuff Anthology: The 2006 Edition (editor and contributor). His language proficiencies include Java, C#/.NET, Ruby, Object Pascal, C++, and C. His primary consulting focus is the design and construction of large-scale enterprise applications. Neal has taught on-site classes nationally and internationally to all phases of the military and to many Fortune 500 companies. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, having spoken at numerous developer conferences worldwide.If you have an insatiable curiosity about Neal, visit his web site at http://www.nealford.com. He welcomes feedback and can be reached at nford@thoughtworks.com.
Comments about O'Reilly Media The Productive Programmer:
As you would probably assume from the name, this is a talk that Neal Ford did covering the material from his book of the same name. It focuses on the practices and attitudes that can help you to actually get things done as a programmer.
It's a recording of a talk that the author gave at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, and it's clear that they didn't really do any editing. This is mostly fine, but it is a little strange that they didn't cut out the parts where the video was silent for extended periods because the speaker needed to take a break for a couple of minutes.
These videos are a good place to start on getting some ideas for how you can be more productive, but (due to obvious time constraints) they don't include as much information as the book does and really couldn't serve as a substitute for it. I think what they'd be really good for is helping to keep the general themes fresh in your mind and keep yourself motivated to work on the changes the author is suggesting.
The audio is such that it can still be followed well without watching the video, which could make this a good motivational tool if you listen to it during commutes and workouts to help keep you on the path of refining the way you program.
I received free access to watch this video from O'Reilly Media Inc. for the purpose of writing this review.
