The Egoless Programmer


Write for others to read

Professional programmers and software designers do not keep their work hidden. They encourage others to look at what they have written, even if they think it might have mistakes in it. In a team of programmers, all mistakes are considered mistakes of the whole team, not of one individual. That attitude leads to far fewer mistakes than letting each individual keeping his or her contribution secret from the others in the team.

Do not be afraid that other people might learn that you make mistakes. Of course you make mistakes. Do not even be afraid of them finding out that you have made a particular (or even particularly silly) mistake. We all do that too.

The way to make progress is to talk to others about what you are doing. If you are having difficulties, do not be afraid to ask for help, thinking that you do not want anyone to see that you do not get some key idea. You will do better that way.