Extreme programming explained
by Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres · first published 1999
53% recommend47% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, concrete account of XP practices such as short iterations, frequent releases, and tests, showing where agile came from and why. Suits engineers and teams who want a solid guide to working with others.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Extreme Programming (XP) was conceived and developed to address the specific needs of software development conducted by small teams in the face of vague and changing requirements. This new lightweight methodology challenges many conventional tenets, including the long-held assumption that the cost of changing a piece of software necessarily rises dramatically over the course of time. XP recognizes that projects have to work to achieve this reduction in cost and exploit the savings once they have been earned." "You may love XP or you may hate it, but Extreme Programming Explained will force y
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2016–2017Planning extreme programming
Kent Beck
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 32 recommend · 3 mention2 recommend · 32 recommend
2010–2025Implementation patterns
Kent Beck
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 76 recommend · 7 mention6 recommend · 76 recommend
2012–2023Agile software development
Alistair Cockburn
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 64 recommend · 6 mention4 recommend · 64 recommend
2008–2025The art of agile development
James Shore
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 1913 recommend · 19 mention13 recommend · 1913 recommend
2013–2021Dependency injection in .NET
Mark Seemann
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 97 recommend · 9 mention7 recommend · 97 recommend
2020–2024Righting Software
Juval Löwy
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 94 recommend · 9 mention4 recommend · 94 recommend
2012–2025Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications
Grady Booch
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 127 recommend · 12 mention7 recommend · 127 recommend
2009–2026Smalltalk best practice patterns
Kent Beck
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 2417 recommend · 24 mention17 recommend · 2417 recommend
…Braid * Fred Brooks - Design Of Design * Fred Brooks - The Mythical Man month * Eric J. Evans - Domain Driven Design * Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software * Kent Beck - Extreme Programming Explained * Kent Beck - Planning Extreme Programming * Michael C. Feathers - Working Effectively with Legacy Code * Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow [EDIT] Correct the author for legacy code
on “Ask HN: What books had the greatest effect on how you structure your code?” ↗…Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk (Duval, Matyas, Glover, 2007) - Continuous Delivery: Release Software Releases through Build, Test and Deployment Automation (Humble, Farley, 2010) - Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition (The XP Series) (Beck, Andres) - SICP: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship - Design Patterns:…
on “CTO Mentor Network – A virtual peer-to-peer network of CTOs” ↗…Development (Mary and Tom Poppendieck) - if you only read one, this is the one to read The Principles of Product Development Flow (Tom Reinertsen) Agile Software Development, 2nd. ed. (Alistair Cockburn) Extreme Programming Explained, 2nd ed. (Kent Beck) The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
on “Ask HN: Does the Scrum Framework Work?” ↗See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_production_system But I think it is easier to learn Extreme Programming first because TPS is somewhat abstract. XP is very concrete. Check out Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained.
on “Lean startups find their moment” ↗…http://dhemery.com/articles/managing_yourself_through_change... Macro Skills: * Toyota Production System - Taiichii Ohno * Workplace Management - Taiichii Ohno * Thinking in Systems - Donella Meadows * Fifth Discipline - Peter Senge Agile: * Extreme Programming, Explained (2nd ed.) - Kent Beck (the annotated bibliography is a goldmine) * Chaos: Making a New Science - James Gleick Programming: * Implementation Patterns - Kent Beck * Test-Driven Development, By Example…
on “Theory-building and why employee churn is lethal to software companies” ↗Man-Month is great book. Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained is the second one. But those are mostly about management of software projects. If you want to learn how to write good code you probably should read about how to write short stories and even Dale Carnegie's…
on “Why is programming fun?” ↗…there are short iterations, frequent releases, acceptance tests, and having product people sitting next to developers. For those wondering how unit testing relates to other practices, go read Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained. He's one of the people who led the current wave of unit testing adoption via jUnit. Years before the term "Agile" existed, he was on a team that found a highly productive way of working, one for which…
on “Testing code is simple” ↗For programmers looking to learn about XP, the book that I most recommend is the first edition of Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck, the white one. (The second edition, the green one, was rewritten for a broader audience; also interesting, but I don't think it speaks as well to programmers.) But the book is ancient at…
on “Ask HN: Is it time to give up, or is it time to push on?” ↗It's a timeless book. I read it and Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained at around the same time, and they completely changed my way of thinking about software development. The only other book that shook my foundations so hard was the classic K&R The C Programming Language.
on “Tips from the Pragmatic Programmer (2000)” ↗Everything I Need To Know About Agile I Learned From Reading "Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition (The XP Series)", by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres. Oh, and from working side-by-side with the best practitioners in the business at ThoughtWorks for three years. But the…
on “Why I'm not a big fan of Scrum” ↗…actual problem needed; when I say "software engineering", PP is what I mean. William Kent, author of Data & Reality https://mdhughes.tech/2017/07/19/data-and-reality-william-ke... Kent Beck, author of Extreme Programming Explained, for making good engineering practices "go to 11".
on “Ask HN: Which programmer do you look up to?” ↗…of a sane process to a context. I always thought of XP and its successors as marketing by successful Consultants rather than any true insight. You might want to take a look at the original short book "Extreme Programming Explained" by Kent Beck and form your own opinions.
on “The art of interrupting software engineers” ↗…cost of textbooks, I find that Applying UML and Patterns by Larman achieves the best balance of practice, design, and process. For students who want to dig into agile methodologies I would recommend Extreme Programming Explained by Beck and the Poppendiecks on Lean. In my opinion, a philosophical grounding is helpful for the programmer. Accordingly, I'd want to suggest something like Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding…
on “Books I recommend to my software engineering students” ↗The original XP website is still online (http://www.extremeprogramming.org/) and worth a read. The main book was Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck. Both are really good resources for understanding agile, where it came from and why things are done. A lot more emphasis on the engineering practices that enable agility…
on “What is extreme programming and how it makes your code better?” ↗…have a big list on my website at https://www.briansnotes.io/books/ but here are a few: * The DevOps Handbook - Lots of tactics for improving the productivity and effectiveness of engineering teams * Extreme Programming Explained - Solid guide to agile ideas * Staff Engineer and The Manager's Path - Helps you understand your career path and the expectations that come with positions like Tech Lead, Staff Engineer, Engineering…
on “Ask HN: Tech books every developer must read” ↗