108 Quotes by Robert C. Martin

A long descriptive name is better than a long descriptive comment.

Whatever else a TODO might be, it is not an excuse to leave bad code in the system.

You see, programmers tend to be arrogant, self-absorbed introverts. We didn’t get into this business because we like people.

The fundamental assumption underlying all software projects is that software is easy to change. If you violate this assumption by creating inflexible structures, then you undercut the economic model that the entire industry is based on. In.

Any organisation that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organisation’s communication structure.

This is the philosophy of YAGNI: “You aren’t going to need it.” There is wisdom in this message, since over-engineering is often much worse than under-engineering. On the other hand, when you discover that you truly do need an architectural boundary where none exists, the costs and risks can be very high to add such a boundary.

When you cannot concentrate and focus sufficiently, the code you write will be wrong. It will have bugs. It will have the wrong structure. It will be opaque and convoluted. It will not solve the customers’ real problems. In short, it will have to be reworked or redone. Working while distracted creates waste.

It is not enough for code to work. Code that works is often badly broken. Programmers who satisfy themselves with merely working code are behaving unprofessionally. They may fear that they don’t have time to improve the structure and design of their code, but I disagree. Nothing has a more profound and long-term degrading effect upon a development project than bad code.

Duplication is the primary enemy of a well-designed system. It represents additional work, additional risk, and additional unnecessary complexity.