Martin Fowler
Martin Fowler
#### Full Name and Common Aliases
Martin Fowler is a British software developer, consultant, and author known for his work in the field of object-oriented programming, design patterns, and agile development.
Birth and Death Dates
Born: June 20, 1963,
Still active and no recorded date of passing
Nationality and Profession(s)
British, Software Developer, Consultant, Author
Martin Fowler is a renowned expert in software development with extensive experience as a consultant, author, and speaker. His work focuses on improving the quality and maintainability of software systems.
Early Life and Background
Martin Fowler was born in 1963 in England. He developed an interest in computing at a young age and began programming during his teenage years. After completing his education, he worked as a programmer for several companies before deciding to start his own consulting business.
Fowler's entry into the software development world coincided with the emergence of object-oriented programming (OOP), which had a significant impact on his work. He became fascinated by the concept of encapsulation and started exploring ways to apply it in practical scenarios.
Major Accomplishments
Martin Fowler is best known for co-authoring the book "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code." The book, published in 1999, has become a widely accepted guide for developers seeking to improve the design of existing codebases. It emphasizes the importance of refactoring as a key aspect of software development.
Fowler's work also focuses on agile methodologies and design patterns. He is a strong advocate for TDD (Test-Driven Development) and has written extensively about its benefits in improving software quality.
Notable Works or Actions
Some of Martin Fowler's notable works include:
"Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" (co-authored with Kent Beck)
"Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture"
* "UML Distilled"
In addition to his written work, Fowler is known for his engaging public speaking style and has presented at numerous conferences worldwide. He has also been involved in various online communities, sharing his expertise through blog posts, podcasts, and video interviews.
Impact and Legacy
Martin Fowler's impact on the software development community is undeniable. His contributions have helped shape the way developers approach code design, testing, and maintenance. Through his writing and public speaking, he has inspired countless professionals to adopt more effective practices in their work.
Fowler's emphasis on refactoring as a key aspect of software development has significantly influenced the industry's approach to code improvement. His advocacy for TDD and agile methodologies has also helped establish these principles as standard practices in many organizations.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Martin Fowler is widely quoted and remembered due to his extensive contributions to the field of software development. His work on refactoring, design patterns, and agile methodologies has had a lasting impact on the industry. His ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely through writing and public speaking has made him a respected figure in the community.
In summary, Martin Fowler is a British software developer, consultant, and author who has significantly influenced the way developers approach code design and maintenance. Through his writing, public speaking, and online presence, he continues to inspire professionals worldwide with his expertise on refactoring, TDD, and agile methodologies.
Quotes by Martin Fowler
Life being what it is, you won’t get your names right the first time. In this situation you may well be tempted to leave it – after all it’s only a name. That is the work of the evil demon Obfuscatis; don’t listen to him. If you see a badly named method, it is imperative that you change it. Remember your code is for a human first and a computer second. Humans need good names.
Other than when you are very close to a deadline, however, you should not put off refactoring because you haven’t got time. Experience with several projects has shown that a bout of refactoring results in increased productivity. Not having enough time usually is a sign that you need to do some refactoring.
When you find you have to add a feature to a program, and the program’s code is not structured in a convenient way to add the feature, first refactor the program to make it easy to add the feature, then add the feature.
Parallel inheritance hierarchies is really a special case of shotgun surgery. In this case, every time you make a subclass of one class, you also have to make a subclass of another.
I’ve found that refactoring helps me write fast software. It slows the software in the short term while I’m refactoring, but it makes the software easier to tune during optimization. I end up well ahead.
Whenever I have to think to understand what the code is doing, I ask myself if I can refactor the code to make that understanding more immediately apparent.
A heuristic we follow is that whenever we feel the need to comment something, we write a method instead.
Poorly designed code usually takes more code to do the same things, often because the code quite literally does the same thing in several places.
If you have to spend effort looking at a fragment of code and figuring out what it’s doing, then you should extract it into a function and name the function after the “what”.