Reading List 1: Integrating Theory and Practice
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We’re always on the lookout for reading material and we’re going to start sharing what we find on our blog. Here’s the first of many:
Our path as software developers can be summed up with “the integration of theory and practice”. We learn and do in an unending cycle, learning how things ought to work and then understanding how they actually do.
As we progress in our careers, we should constantly think of how to imbue our practice with theory and our theory with practice.
For example, let’s say we’ve been hammering away with the same toolchain and framework for a couple of years. We know the environment back to front and stubbing out a new feature comes naturally and with very little effort. The big-picture is burned into our working memory, and our fingers operate as if on cruise control. We’ve reached the “productive” level of mastery.
But there’s still a way until we summit the mountain and attain the divine fire.
Does this sound familiar? If yes, then the question is “what to do next?” Generally speaking, there are plenty of things to do at this point, but one of them would be to analyze whatever framework you’re using and discover the pattern(s) expressed in it.
Or if you’re a Rails developer, you could just read this book!
Thanks to @joho for this link.
