Robert C. Martin
Full Name and Common Aliases
Robert Cecil Martin, commonly referred to as "Uncle Bob," is a renowned American software engineer, author, and speaker.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on July 8, 1952, in Kansas City, Missouri. Unfortunately, due to the nature of his biography, there is no record of his passing.
Nationality and Profession(s)
American citizen with a career spanning over four decades as a software engineer, consultant, author, and speaker.
Early Life and Background
Growing up in the Midwest, Martin developed an interest in computers at an early age. He began programming in his teenage years, using machines such as the Hewlett-Packard 2000C and the IBM PC. His passion for coding led him to study mathematics and computer science at the University of Washington.
Major Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Martin has made significant contributions to the field of software development:
Author: He is a prolific author with several books on software engineering, including "Clean Code," "The Clean Coder," and "Designing Object-Oriented C++."
Creator of SOLID Principles: Martin is credited with coining the term "SOLID" (Single responsibility, Open-closed, Liskov substitution, Interface segregation, and Dependency inversion) to describe a set of software design principles that promote maintainable, flexible, and scalable systems.
Advocate for Clean Code: He has been a vocal advocate for clean code practices, encouraging developers to prioritize readability, simplicity, and maintainability in their work.Notable Works or Actions
Some notable works include:
"Clean Architecture": A book that explores the concept of clean architecture in software development.
"The Clean Coder": A book that provides guidance on professional coding practices and ethics.
Creator of the "Code Complete" series: Martin has written several books on software development, including "Code Complete," which focuses on writing better code.
Impact and Legacy
Martin's contributions have had a lasting impact on the software industry:
Influence on Software Engineering Practices: His work on clean architecture, SOLID principles, and clean coding practices has influenced the way developers approach software design and development.
Community Engagement: Through his writing, speaking, and teaching, Martin has inspired countless developers to prioritize code quality, simplicity, and maintainability.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Robert C. Martin is widely quoted and remembered for his:
Unwavering commitment to clean code practices: He has dedicated his career to promoting better coding habits and advocating for the importance of readable, maintainable software.
Innovative approach to software design: His work on SOLID principles, clean architecture, and clean coding practices has helped shape the way developers think about software design and development.
Quotes by Robert C. Martin
Robert C. Martin's insights on:
The problem that Dijkstra recognized, early on, was that programming is hard, and that programmers don’t do it very well.
Perhaps you thought that “getting it working” was the first order of business for a professional developer. I hope by now, however, that this book has disabused you of that idea. The functionality that you create today has a good chance of changing in the next release, but the readability of your code will have a profound effect on all the changes that will ever be made.
Complexity kills. It sucks the life out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build, and test.” – Ray Ozzie, CTO, Microsoft Corporation.
Consider, for example, the truly hideous practice of creating a variable named klass just because the name class was used for something else.
Factories are a complexity that can often be avoided, especially in the early phases of an evolving design.
For example, class names including weasel words like Processor or Manager or Super often hint at unfortunate aggregation of responsibilities.
In fact, wrapping third-party APIs is a best practice. When you wrap a third-party API, you minimize your dependencies upon it:.
If a test in the same package needs to call a function or access a variable, we’ll make it protected or package scope.
The cost of automating acceptance tests is so small in comparison to the cost of executing manual test plans that it makes no economic sense to write scripts for humans to execute.
The goal of software architecture is to minimize the human resources required to build and maintain the required system.