Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

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Kent Beck

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Pages: 224 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0201616416

Pub: Addison Wesley

Pub date: 1999-10-22

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 295833

Editorial 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.

Reader Reviews:

Embrace the 1st edition (2/2 people found this helpful)

I have to disagree with one of the other reviewers. The first edition of Kent Beck's book was a model of simplicity and clarity. The second edition however seems far less clear, and yet in places is also more dogmatic.

Whereas in the 1st edition there was a simple list of twelve practices, in the second there are 13 primary practices and 11 corollary practices. The lists of principles differ between the two books too, making it hard to understand what some people mean when they talk about XP.

Much of the management discussion has also been removed from the 2nd edition and migrated into a second book.

If you want a clear, unambiguous description of XP, I would strongly recommend trying to find a copy of the first eidtion.

Missing the point (4/4 people found this helpful)

Most of the negative views here really miss the point and, personally I believe this is down mostly to ignorance or resistance to change. To the reviewer who says "nothing new" - well that is half the point; XP is revolutionary because it is common sense applied to the experience of seeing how things have worked for the last 30 years (also if you studied this book at university I guess you have no or little real world experience of commercial development). Also XP was one of the first of the "new" ideas - it is getting a bit 'old' now but just because most punk sounds like the Ramones that doesn't make the Ramones unoriginal.

To those who say pair programming is impossible you've not tried it your just resistant to an idea that seems wrong as a manager (but you don't have to do pair programming). To those who say "You cannot always be ready to ship, some bits of applications takes weeks until they are just ready for a proper compile" then it is you who needs putting in the humour section as you've missed the point. Unit tests, continuous integration, disciple and good management means you can be ready to ship on a hourly basis (we are in my shop). That doesn't mean it's a completely finished product in terms of features but every feature is finished and works and can deliver business value.

I feel some critism of XP is valid (pair programming isn't right for everyone - but that doesn't mean its wrong) and it doesn't work on large teams (but then large teams may be a 'bad thing') but the truth is most critism sounds like the people who poo-poo'd (and still do) source and change control even though now you are considered a real idiot for not having them - that's the same with unit tests and CI.

The White Book... (5/5 people found this helpful)

Its an easy read, if you can stomach the slightly painful marketing-speak. XP brings silly little things like humanity and respect back into programming.

If you've not pair-programmed or test-driven before then you are missing out on the ideas that Microsoft are still desperately scrabbling to understand. Kent may be walking on the shoulders of giants, but this book has been a watershed for responsible, non-reactive software development.

This, the second edition is even more practical, improving on the original book with a more pragmatic and cooperative business attitude.

There are people out there enjoying their work, helping their businesses to thrive without working all-hours under threat of violence or redundancy. Why not join us?

The Emperor's New Clothes (4/19 people found this helpful)

This book amazed me. Unfortunately this is not because of the outstanding quality, but because I cannot believe that Kent Beck managed to last 160 pages without introducing one single new concept, but simply regurgitated what every programmer has been doing for the last 30 years. I was recommended this book by my university lecturer, but it did not help me in any way complete my module project.

It was full of vague, non-specific, woolly comments about how amazing XP is, and how radical. But there are no new ideas in this book, any more than the emperor's new clothes were magnificent. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it was just not worth it.

The first edition (9/9 people found this helpful)

If you already know XP, you perhaps want to know whether to buy this book. I'll try to answer that question.

The first edition of this book marked a watershed in the way I thought about software. I did leave many questions unanswered, however, as our team struggled to implement the practices 'out of the box'. Perhaps a bit too much revolutionary zeal.

The breadth of the second edition is far greater. It explains the principles so that you can adapt them to your own circumstances, without subverting their original intent. As such it is a far more usefull book than the first edition, even if it lacks the bold audacity of the former - or maybe the ideas of XP dont seem so left of field anymore.

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