Clean Code

One of my refrain's at the recent SoCal Code Camp was "Simple Code."  I was inspired by Scott Bellware's recent appearance on Hanselminutes where he equated simplicity with easy testability.  It is a great podcast, and highly recommended.  Ultimately the point is that we want the code we touch to become more simple.  That is, more easy to understand, more easy to explain, more easy to change and more easy to test. 

  Well, Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) recently published a new book called Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship which seems to be concerned with similar themes.  I'd had it on my radar since Uncle Bob did a .NET Rocks a few months ago but hadn't gotten a copy yet.  There's always more books than I have time for, particularly lately.

But after my code camp sessions, Vladimir mentioned that he was participating in a study group going through Clean Code.  I had never heard of programmers doing such a thing, but it sounded great.  I liked the notion of the added accountability that comes of joining a group project.  "Hmmm," I thought, "that might be a great way to really learn a book." 

A couple of days later when I asked Vladimir to let me know how the study group went, he surprised me with an invitation to join.  So I went out and got a copy and started in on it. 

My first 'meeting' was today, over the phone.  And it was great.  The whole conference call thing isn't real high on my list, but the book is solid and the discussion really added to it. 

One meeting down and I think this has real promise.  Uncle Bob is great, but Uncle Bob supplemented by a roomful of experienced software developers is a real treasure.

So I'll be attending, every Thursday at noon.  Since I want to make sure I keep up my end of the discussion, I'll be taking copious notes as well.  I'd like to find some way to turn them into blog posts too.  so stay tuned and see what unfolds.

SoCal Rock and Roll Code Camp 01/2009

Thanks to all of you who made it to my Dependency Injection sessions at the code camp.  I really enjoyed doing the presentation.  This was the third time I've presented this stuff and I've finally got the content into the neighborhood of where I want it, so I'm particularly satisfied. 

I've gotten my slides cleaned up and saved off my sample code so I can post it on the code camp website.  You can download slides and sample code for each session from its page.  Here they are: Dependency Injection - Why Bother and Fun with Dependency Injection Containers.

I promised some links as well.  Here they are:

Google Testing Blog - This is a great blog with vast amounts of solid practical advice.  It is focused on Java rather than C#, but in most cases that won't be a problem.  The principles are pretty much the same. 

Particularly recommended here is the Guide: Writing Testable Code which appears to be the standards Google uses in code reviews.  It is full of specific guidance and before and after examples both of code and unit tests.  Again, mostly Java, but for the most part it shouldn't be a problem for C# developers.

The StructureMap site is full of good guidance on Dependency Injection Containers in general as well as StructureMap in particular.

You can find more about Autofac at Google Code.  The wiki is a good source of guidance for Autofac's various features.  Assuming the lambda syntax doesn't still make your brain hurt the samples are pretty easy to comprehend.

Don't forget Castle Windsor.

I spent a lot of time on the Single Responsibility Principle and the Open/Closed Principle.  Robert C. Martin's (Uncle Bob) original articles are available from his web site:  SRP and OCP.

Finally, a few great books:

Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#

Working Effectively with Legacy Code

Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code

As I said in the sessions, feel free to contact me if you have a question you think I can help you with.  It is a big topic.

Thank you again for attending.  I had a lot of fun.