Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a software engineer because I’m a builder at heart. I have always had a profoundly curious mind, and always enjoyed tinkering. So at one point in my life, it became evident that I was going to be an engineer. I consider teaching the final step of learning, so whether this means writing an article or giving a talk, or simply sharing recommendations, I make a final effort to share with the community of like-minded people what I have learnt. For this reason, I hope you enjoy reading my book and the ones I recommended.


I wrote...

Clean Code in Python

By Mariano Anaya ,

Book cover of Clean Code in Python

What is my book about?

Clean Code in Python is a work that interprets general concepts of software engineering into the specifics of Python’s ecosystem.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

Mariano Anaya Why I love this book

I've found this book enlightening in many key areas of software development, and as I was reading it, I felt connected with the author (even though I've never met him, I could imagine us having a conversation about software engineering, and agreeing on pretty much everything).

It was a revealing book for me, in the sense that it gave a formal framework to several ideas I've noticed as a practitioner over the years. In that regard, I wish I'd come across this work way earlier in my career.

By Steve McConnell ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Code Complete as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, Steve McConnell's original CODE COMPLETE has been helping developers write better software for more than a decade. Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices-and hundreds of new code samples-illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking-and help you build…


Book cover of The Pragmatic Programmer

Mariano Anaya Why I love this book

I've found this book to be instrumental in my career as a software engineer, especially because it's full of useful and practical advice on how to be effective and productive on a day-to-day basis, but it also includes actionable advice, and helped me a lot on thinking about my career long-term.

By Andrew Hunt , David Thomas ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Pragmatic Programmer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It covers topics ranging from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and you'll learn how to



Fight software rot;
Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge;
Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code;
Avoid programming by coincidence;
Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions;
Capture real requirements;
Test ruthlessly and…


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Book cover of Sh*t Creek to Somewhere Else: The options to change even when all the odds are against you

Sh*t Creek to Somewhere Else by Angie Clarke,

This is an inspiring book from an experience of understanding. A journey through child abuse, bullying, and abandonment to being a successful businesswoman. Life isn't always easy, but the path travelled in this book is inspiring and aspirational for those who struggle with their past life, mental illness, and addiction—linking…

Book cover of Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Mariano Anaya Why I love this book

I’ve found in this book many useful topics about low-level design which connected with my first recommendation (Code Complete). For instance, about creating functions not only as a tactic for reusing code, but more as a way to give clear meaning to parts of the code, and make it more readable. I was happy to find in these authors ideas I have been agreeing with for a long time.

Then there’s also the fact that this book provides several examples with code on how to make the design simpler to maintain, and clearly illustrates the S.O.L.I.D. principles.

By Robert Martin ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Clean Code as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Even bad code can function. But if code isn't clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Noted software expert Robert C. Martin presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship. Martin has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code "on the fly" into a book that will instill within you the values of a software craftsman and make you a…


Book cover of A Philosophy of Software Design

Mariano Anaya Why I love this book

I have to be honest here: when I was reading this book on a trip to New York, I found myself quite surprised because I had seen so many praises for this book, yet I did not particularly agree with most of the topics I was reading about. In particular, I found several points that contradicted those in Clean Code and Code Complete.

I know there’s a debate going on between the authors on a distribution list, but besides some of these points on which I respectfully disagree with the author, I can see is a book of immense value, and there are tons of other great points made about great software design (for example, ”modules should be deep”). And the explanations are crystal clear.

A final reason for recommending this book is that it’s always enriching to expose oneself to a different viewpoint.

By John K. Ousterhout ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Philosophy of Software Design as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book addresses the topic of software design: how to decompose complex software systems into modules (such as classes and methods) that can be implemented relatively independently. The book first introduces the fundamental problem in software design, which is managing complexity. It then discusses philosophical issues about how to approach the software design process and it presents a collection of design principles to apply during software design. The book also introduces a set of red flags that identify design problems. You can apply the ideas in this book to minimize the complexity of large software systems, so that you can…


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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. Brené Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,…

Book cover of Release It!

Mariano Anaya Why I love this book

The marvel of this book is that it's a rare one: most of the books focus on the construction part of software, all the design and preparation. But what happens once the system is out there, launched? Release It! focuses on the software architecture aspects that entail designing a platform to make it reliable once it’s been released.

It touches on concepts like logging, locking, circuit breakers, and it’s written from the author’s experience with real-life examples (and even code snippets). As someone who has worked on several different types of software products (and been on-call), I’ve enjoyed reading the author tell us about things that went wrong in the past, and what lessons were learnt from them.

By Michael T. Nygard ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Release It! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A single dramatic software failure can cost a company millions of dollars - but can be avoided with simple changes to design and architecture. This new edition of the best-selling industry standard shows you how to create systems that run longer, with fewer failures, and recover better when bad things happen. New coverage includes DevOps, microservices, and cloud-native architecture. Stability antipatterns have grown to include systemic problems in large-scale systems. This is a must-have pragmatic guide to engineering for production systems. If you're a software developer, and you don't want to get alerts every night for the rest of your…


Explore my book 😀

Clean Code in Python

By Mariano Anaya ,

Book cover of Clean Code in Python

What is my book about?

Clean Code in Python is a work that interprets general concepts of software engineering into the specifics of Python’s ecosystem.

The book adapts the general industry-accepted practices of building high-quality enterprise software to the idiomatic way of writing Python code, leveraging the most important features of the language.

Book cover of Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Book cover of The Pragmatic Programmer
Book cover of Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

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Sustainability is going mainstream—but where did the story start?

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