The Pragmatic Bookshelf

Cutting an Agile Groove

You’ve struggled to bring agile practices to projects but have been frustrated by buzzword-heavy books and presentations that seem to have been written by academics. What you want is straight talk giving practical advice on the real problems that you face in leading or working in agile teams.

Cutting an Agile Groove is a series of videos by respected agile consultant David Hussman that shows you how to design an agile, lean process and deliver real value for your product or project—in plain English, with real-world examples.

2011-08-10

Test Driven Development

Test-driven development (TDD) is a programming technique that reverses the usual sequence of coding and testing. By writing tests just in advance of the code needed to satisfy them, programmers:

• Work with confidence
• Work on a series of achievable steps instead of tackling a big problem all at once
• Ensure that software design meets the need of the actual code
• Leave behind a suite of tests to help preserve the integrity of the code

2010-06-24

ExpressionEngine Techniques

Why work through common problems on your own when you can skip the trial and error and jump straight to a solution that works the first time? Learn the latest techniques the pros use to build full-featured websites with ExpressionEngine from Ryan Irelan, an ExpressionEngine guru. Each of these video tutorials teaches you how to solve a particular set of problems with ExpressionEngine, quickly and efficiently.

2010-03-09

Source Control Made Easy

Git has significantly changed the way teams develop software. Its distributed nature and lightweight branching and merging have made it possible for developers to massage their code bases in ways they couldn’t have imagined before. However, Git has a reputation for being hard to learn. And when folks transition to Git, they often settle for using a handful of commands and treat Git just like their other source control system. But because of its different approach to source control issues, many of the techniques and terminology we have learned in other source control systems do not translate cleanly when using Git. To begin to use Git effectively, you need to understand the underlying concepts.

In this 49-minute screencast you’ll learn Git in a different way: By not learning about Git itself. Instead, Jim Weirich takes you on a journey of how you might design and build a source control system from scratch. Along the way you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the first principles behind Git so things begin to make more sense.

This screencast is for people who haven’t used Git yet and are thinking about it, and for people who have just started using Git, but are still in the “magic incantation” stage of learning. It’s a great introduction to source control for your manager, too! No prior experience with Git or source control systems is required.

2009-10-20

Coding in Objective-C 2.0

Objective-C is the programming language for writing native iPhone and Mac applications. It’s also the language that Apple uses to build their own applications and frameworks. So, if you know Objective-C, you have a lot of power at your fingertips. But if you’re new to C or object-oriented programming, then Objective-C can seem a little awkward at first. These screencasts by Bill Dudney, an experienced Objective-C programmer, will help you quickly get up to speed on Objective-C 2.0 basics.

2009-07-12

Using Map Kit

Using the new Map Kit framework available in iPhone 3.0, you can embed customized maps within your iPhone application. In this screencast you’ll learn how to build an iPhone application from scratch that displays a map of recent earthquakes, shows custom annotations with callouts, and automatically zooms to a region of interest.

2009-06-29

Classy Web Development with Sinatra

Sinatra is a small Ruby web application framework that packs a big punch. It’s also a lot of fun! You can use Sinatra to write tiny, focused web applications and lightweight REST services very quickly. And sometimes a lean and mean web app is all you need. If you haven’t given Sinatra a look, now’s a great time to get a fresh perspective on web development. Learn how to get the most out of Sinatra from Adam Keys, an experienced Ruby and Sinatra developer.

2009-01-22

The Ruby Object Model and Metaprogramming

Metaprogramming lets you program more expressively. This makes your code easier to write and easier to maintain and extend. Learn both the hows and whys of metaprogramming Ruby from Dave Thomas, one of the most experienced Ruby programmers in the western world.

2008-12-26

Insider Guide to GitHub

GitHub is where the action’s at: you can host your public and private projects there, use it to collaborate on projects in a truly distributed way, and expand your social coding network. But to really get the most out of this great resource, you need an experienced guide to show you the ropes. Learn how the pros use GitHub from Scott Chacon, a long-time Git user and GitHub insider.

2008-12-06

Erlang in Practice

Learn how to write Erlang programs by sitting next to an experienced Erlang programmer as he builds a full-featured application from the ground up!

In these screencasts, Kevin Smith incrementally builds a distributed chat system using Erlang. You’ll learn first-hand how each aspect of the Erlang language fits together into a real-world application, starting with Erlang primitives and ending with an OTP application.

2008-10-03

Creating a Compelling User Interface with Core Animation

Core Animation adds that “wow!” factor to your Cocoa and iPhone applications. It’s not just cool, it also improves the user experience to make your application a cut above the rest. Learn how to create an animated and cinematic user interface with Core Animation from Bill Dudney, an experienced Cocoa developer.

2008-09-05