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Read "The Creative Programmer" by Wouter Groeneveld

Rating: β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜†

Last night I thought: tomorrow morning I will finish reading The Creative Programmer, and so I did. I woke up this morning, had a light breakfast, made a coffee, and sat down in the balcony reading the last pages of Wouter’s book.

Last month, Wouter made a giveaway on different platforms where he offered a copy of his most recent book, The Creative Programmer. I was one of the lucky ones that received one of the copies. The title was quite enticing. However, the book was different than what I expected… in a positive way!

The Creative Programmer
The Creative Programmer

I expected the book to be more technical, which it wasn’t. There’s no reason why this book had to be technical. I think perhaps the word “programmer” led by brain to put it into a “extremely technical” book box. It is more about the process, about the psychology, about what makes a creative programmer.

During the different chapters, Wouter introduces different aspects that, together, and relating to each other, make a Creative Programmer: from critical thinking, to curiosity, communication and constraints. Towards the end, everything is connected.

The book is very readable, has many examples and counter examples, many puns, and it is overall just a fun and enticing experience. Additionally, it also includes many exercises that the reader can do to reflect and/or exercise their creativity - shamefully I didn’t do all of them, but I will certainly go back.

I am, of course, not going to deep dive into the book here - that’s why the book exists. I do highly recommend it for everyone that programs, either as part of their daily job, or just for fun!

Details

  • The Creative Programmer by Wouter Groeneveld
  • Pages: 232
  • Publisher: Manning
  • isbn: 9781633439054