Clean Craftsmanship

As a software craftsman, I was excited to read Robert C. Martin’s new book, “Clean Craftsmanship”. I find all of his books exceptionally valuable. Moreover, he also wrote the foreword for The Software Craftsman by Sandro Mancuso, one of my favourite books. So, my expectations were high, but unfortunately, I was disappointed this time.

Although valuable, the book desires more balance and comprehensiveness and feels like a patchwork. For example, the first half of the book is about TDD. The topic is inevitably necessary for craftsmanship, and I’m fully committed to it. However, right after this topic, the book takes a sudden turn, giving a written copy of the author’s “Expecting Professionalism” speech. Aside from some smaller chapters, these two topics dominate the book with little cohesion. Although everything in the book is valuable, it reads like a compilation of the author’s existing materials.

To highlight the book’s strength, I loved how it demonstrated the power of TDD. He not only talks about it but also gives several step-by-step examples, a kind of live coding in the form of a book. If the book ended here with an appropriate title of TDD, I would consider it one of the best in its class.

What I liked the most:

• The best demonstration of TDD
• He is just goddamn right in both the “Expecting Professionalism” speech and its copy in the book.

What I didn’t like much:

• The book is not particularly well-balanced and lacks cohesion between the chapters. The Software Craftsman by Sandro Mancuso is much better on this subject.