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Peter Seibel interviews 15 of the most interesting computer programmers alive today in Coders at Work, offering a companion volume to Apress’s highly acclaimed best-seller Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. As the words “at work” suggest, Peter Seibel focuses on how his interviewees tackle the day-to-day work of programming, while revealing much more, like how they became great programmers, how they recognize programming talent in others, and what kinds of problems they find most interesting.
Hundreds of people have suggested names of programmers to interview on the Coders at Work web site: www.codersatwork.com. The complete list was 284 names. Having digested everyone’s feedback, we selected 15 folks who’ve been kind enough to agree to be interviewed:
Programmers interested in the point of view of leaders in the field. Programmers looking for approaches that work for some of these outstanding programmers.
This book had an interesting mix of interviews that covered many areas of the practice of programming. Each interview was different and some were more interesting then others. Overall though it is worth the read as it offers both some good history and insight into programming from the interviewed figures.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.johnnycoder
Posted October 12, 2009
I enjoyed the interviews with former and current Yahoo and Google gurus, how they debug and what their thoughts for current programming projects. Their approach to software projects and the competitive nature of the Industry. As a programmer I would like to see other books on this subject. Thank you Peter Seibel!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.What an interesting book!
I never thought a book like this would get published and am so happy it did. Imagine being able to get a glimse of what legendary programmers/architects/engineers such as Brendan Eich, Joshua Bloch, Joe Armstrong, Peter Norvig, Simon Jones, Ken Thompson, Fran Allen, Bernie Cosell and Donald Knuth have to say about their life as a coder.
Its like a dream come true for a developer/programmer like me (and I'm sure many others.)
Some of the many (more than 30 per) sample questions that were asked:
- How did one get into coding?
- What were some successful projects?
- What were some less-successful/failure projects and why?
- What type of education is useful?
- What tools does one use and why?
- What does one enjoy about programming?
- How one works with others and the dynamic of that.
What impressed me most was the sheer range of approaches and motivations on display: everything from Jamie Zawinski's largely unschooled route to a formidable level of skill and subsequent major contributions to influential projects, to to Peter Norvig's uncommon combination of practical hacker wizardry with an almost ethereally playful interest in a variety of higher level topics, to Fran Allen's old school appreciation of quality systems and frustration at the amount of regression and small-concept thinking in the current state of the art, to Dan Ingalls' desire to make his software as flexible and alive as possible.
Those interviewed also share insights into what they think of our modern world of programming. Most agree that we live in complicated and troubled times as we battle layer upon layer of software complexity. This book has lessons to be learned from the very brief history of our field, and advice for the future ("Keep it simple!").
I'm a programmer who's read a lot of stuff about programming, including a lot of material by and about some the people in these interviews, and I could barely put the book down. If you're anything like me, you should get a lot out of this book.
This book is for every level of programmer/developer...from beginner to advanced. Because no matter what level you are, you are always striving to learn more and who better to gain some valuable insight then the best in the field (literally).
A great and must buy for any 'coder'.
Anonymous
Posted October 23, 2009
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Anonymous
Posted October 28, 2009
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Posted October 9, 2009
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Posted May 10, 2010
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Overview
Peter Seibel interviews 15 of the most interesting computer programmers alive today in Coders at Work, offering a companion volume to Apress’s highly acclaimed best-seller Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. As the words “at work” suggest, Peter Seibel focuses on how his interviewees tackle the day-to-day work of programming, while revealing much more, like how they became great programmers, how they recognize programming talent in others, and what kinds of problems they ...