Amazon.co.uk Review
Kent Beck's eXtreme Programming eXplained provides an intriguing high-level overview of the author's Extreme Programming (XP) software development methodology. Written for IS managers, project leaders or programmers, this guide provides a glimpse at the principles behind XP and its potential advantages for small to mid-sized software development teams. The book intends to describe what XP is, its guiding principles and how it works. Simply written, the book avoids case studies and concrete details in demonstrating the efficacy of XP. Instead, the author demonstrates how XP relies on simplicity, unit testing, programming in pairs, communal ownership of code and customer input on software for to motivate code improvement during the development process. As the author notes, these principles are not new, but when combined, their synergy fosters a new and arguably better way to build and maintain software. Throughout the book, the author presents and explains these principles, such as "rapid feedback" and "play to win," which form the basis of XP. Generally speaking, XP changes the way programmers work. The book is good at delineating new roles for programmers and managers who Beck calls "coaches." The most striking characteristic of XP is that programmers work in pairs and that testing is an intrinsic part of the coding process. In a later section, the author even shows where XP works and where it doesn't, and offers suggestions for migrating teams and organizations over to the XP process. In the afterword, the author recounts the experiences that led him to develop and refine XP, an insightful section that should inspire any organisation to adopt XP. This book serves as a useful introduction to the philosophy and practice of XP for the manager or programmer who want a potentially better way to build software. --Richard Dragan, Amazon.com Topics covered: Extreme Programming (XP) software methodology, principles, XP team roles, facilities design, testing, refactoring, the XP software lifecycle, adopting XP.
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  Embrace the 1st edition, 2006-08-14
I have to disagree with one of the other reviewers. The first edition of Kent Beck's book was a model of simplicity and clarity. The second edition however seems far less clear, and yet in places is also more dogmatic.
Whereas in the 1st edition there was a simple list of twelve practices, in the second there are 13 primary practices and 11 corollary practices. The lists of principles differ between the two books too, making it hard to understand what some people mean when they talk about XP.
Much of the management discussion has also been removed from the 2nd edition and migrated into a second book.
If you want a clear, unambiguous description of XP, I would strongly recommend trying to find a copy of the first eidtion.
Missing the point, 2006-03-30
Most of the negative views here really miss the point and, personally I believe this is down mostly to ignorance or resistance to change. To the reviewer who says "nothing new" - well that is half the point; XP is revolutionary because it is common sense applied to the experience of seeing how things have worked for the last 30 years (also if you studied this book at university I guess you have no or little real world experience of commercial development). Also XP was one of the first of the "new" ideas - it is getting a bit 'old' now but just because most punk sounds like the Ramones that doesn't make the Ramones unoriginal.To those who say pair programming is impossible you've not tried it your just resistant to an idea that seems wrong as a manager (but you don't have to do pair programming). To those who say "You cannot always be ready to ship, some bits of applications takes weeks until they are just ready for a proper compile" then it is you who needs putting in the humour section as you've missed the point. Unit tests, continuous integration, disciple and good management means you can be ready to ship on a hourly basis (we are in my shop). That doesn't mean it's a completely finished product in terms of features but every feature is finished and works and can deliver business value. I feel some critism of XP is valid (pair programming isn't right for everyone - but that doesn't mean its wrong) and it doesn't work on large teams (but then large teams may be a 'bad thing') but the truth is most critism sounds like the people who poo-poo'd (and still do) source and change control even though now you are considered a real idiot for not having them - that's the same with unit tests and CI.
A classic, 2008-12-30
This second edition of Kent Beck's seminal book on extreme programming is even better than the first edition. Extensively rewritten, it now draws on the lessons of the last five years to deepen and extend the philosophy behind extreme programming.
I don't know why it is, but it must be significant, that of all the computing books I've read or reviewed in the last two years, the ones about agile and extreme programing stand out for good writing and an ability to project enthusiasm. This book is no exception. One caveat though, don't expect it to give you a checklist to tick off for extreme programming - this is a book concerned with the philosophy of extreme programming.
This book will be of use to a number of different categories of programmers. For those who would like to find out about extreme programming, it is a classy advocacy and explanatory book. For those who would like to introduce extreme programming into their workplace it is chock full of information that can help you win the struggle. Finally for those already practicing extreme programming, this book can fill in the gaps and give you ideas on how to take things forward.
Of, course, there are other things I would have liked to have seen in it. More discussion on large projects for instance, or at the other end, discussion of extreme programming practices for the lone programmer. As the only programmer in my company, I find it difficult to practice pair programming...
But these are not deficiencies - no reasonable sized book can cover everything - and I would heartily recommend this book to any programmer who wants to deepen his or her understanding of the craft. Just one question, Kent. How is it that the prophet of the short cycle and refactoring took five years and a complete re-write to produce the second iteration of his book?
Highly recommended.
The Emperor's New Clothes, 2005-10-31
This book amazed me. Unfortunately this is not because of the outstanding quality, but because I cannot believe that Kent Beck managed to last 160 pages without introducing one single new concept, but simply regurgitated what every programmer has been doing for the last 30 years. I was recommended this book by my university lecturer, but it did not help me in any way complete my module project. It was full of vague, non-specific, woolly comments about how amazing XP is, and how radical. But there are no new ideas in this book, any more than the emperor's new clothes were magnificent. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it was just not worth it.
The White Book..., 2006-02-09
Its an easy read, if you can stomach the slightly painful marketing-speak. XP brings silly little things like humanity and respect back into programming. If you've not pair-programmed or test-driven before then you are missing out on the ideas that Microsoft are still desperately scrabbling to understand. Kent may be walking on the shoulders of giants, but this book has been a watershed for responsible, non-reactive software development. This, the second edition is even more practical, improving on the original book with a more pragmatic and cooperative business attitude. There are people out there enjoying their work, helping their businesses to thrive without working all-hours under threat of violence or redundancy. Why not join us?
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