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Further reading

These books explore many of the same questions as Hacker Laws: how to write software well, manage complexity, build effective teams and improve the systems around them.

Books​

  • The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt is a broad, practical guide to the habits and trade-offs behind good software development.
  • A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout is a short, focused book on reducing complexity through deep modules, simple interfaces and information hiding.
  • Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister shows how team dynamics, working environments and management choices shape software delivery.
  • Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble and Gene Kim presents research linking delivery practices with software performance and organisational outcomes.
  • Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows introduces feedback loops, delays and constraints, and helps explain why sensible local decisions can produce surprising results.

More on Hacker Laws​

Hacker Laws began as the hacker-laws repository, an A-Z reference with a short introduction to each law. GitHub records the contributors, and the repository links to community-maintained translations.

I joined Jerod Santo for The Changelog, episode 403: Laws for hackers to live by, an hour-long conversation about the project and the ideas behind it, recorded in July 2020.

CB Insights: 8 Laws Driving Success in Tech covers several laws that have influenced how technology companies think about success and failure.

Effective Shell​

Effective Shell is my practical guide to working on the command line. It is free to read online and available in print from No Starch Press.