A book for makers, for seekers of all kinds, an exhilarating look into the heart and soul of artisans—and how their collective wisdom can inspire us all. "Despite our technological advances, we’re busier than ever, our lives more frazzled. That’s why the handmade object, created with care and detail, embodying a history and a tradition, is enormously powerful. It can cut through so much and speak in ways that we don’t often hear, or that we’ve forgotten." —Eric Gorges, from A Craftsman’s Legacy In this joyful celebration of skilled craftsmen, Eric Gorges, a corporate-refugee-turned-metal-shaper, taps into a growing hunger to get back to what’s real. Through visits with fellow artisans—calligraphers, potters, stone carvers, glassblowers, engravers, woodworkers, and more—many of whom he’s profiled for his popular television program, Gorges identifies values that are useful for all of us: taking time to slow down and enjoy the process, embracing failure, knowing when to stop and when to push through, and accepting that perfection is an illusion. Most of all, A Craftsman’s Legacy shows how all of us can embrace a more creative and authentic life and learn to focus on doing what we love.

The host of Public Television's A Craftsman’s Legacy makes the case that the craftsman’s way--the philosophy, the skills, and the mindset--can provide a blueprint for all of us in our increasingly hurried, disposable world. These days, in the name of technological progress, we have devalued and minimized the personal, the imperfect, and the handmade. We’ve become distant from the process of creating and shaping real things, which can even diminish our power to shape our own destinies. As a metal shaper, Eric Gorges has visited and learned from the fellow craftsmen he has profiled for his popular public television program. In this book he tells the stories and shares the collective wisdom of these modern-day makers while also celebrating the culture of all craftsmen. A Craftsman’s Legacy is filled with insights--about the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of craftsmanship--from calligraphers, bit and spur makers, potters, stone carvers, glassblowers, engravers, wood workers, and others. Gorges identifies shared values: take time to slow down and enjoy the process; embrace failure; know when to stop and when to push through; accept that perfection is an illusion. He extols the benefits of getting out of our comfort zone, the pleasure of making something lasting, and the importance of being in touch with the traditions of the past in order to carry those values into the future. Along the way, Gorges tells his own story about leaving the corporate world to focus on what he loves. This is a book for makers, for seekers of all kinds, an exhilarating look into the heart and soul of craftsmen--and how they can inspire us all.

Get more out of your legacy systems: more performance, functionality, reliability, and manageability Is your code easy to change? Can you get nearly instantaneous feedback when you do change it? Do you understand it? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you have legacy code, and it is draining time and money away from your development efforts. In this book, Michael Feathers offers start-to-finish strategies for working more effectively with large, untested legacy code bases. This book draws on material Michael created for his renowned Object Mentor seminars: techniques Michael has used in mentoring to help hundreds of developers, technical managers, and testers bring their legacy systems under control. The topics covered include Understanding the mechanics of software change: adding features, fixing bugs, improving design, optimizing performance Getting legacy code into a test harness Writing tests that protect you against introducing new problems Techniques that can be used with any language or platform—with examples in Java, C++, C, and C# Accurately identifying where code changes need to be made Coping with legacy systems that aren't object-oriented Handling applications that don't seem to have any structure This book also includes a catalog of twenty-four dependency-breaking techniques that help you work with program elements in isolation and make safer changes.

This title shows the process of cleaning code. Rather than just illustrating the end result, or just the starting and ending state, the author shows how several dozen seemingly small code changes can positively impact the performance and maintainability of an application code base.

How to Write Code You're Proud of . . . Every Single Day ". . . [A] timely and humble reminder of the ever-increasing complexity of our programmatic world and how we owe it to the legacy of humankind--and to ourselves--to practice ethical development. Take your time reading Clean Craftsmanship. . . . Keep this book on your go-to bookshelf. Let this book be your old friend--your Uncle Bob, your guide--as you make your way through this world with curiosity and courage." --From the Foreword by Stacia Heimgartner Viscardi, CST & Agile Mentor In Clean Craftsmanship, the legendary Robert C. Martin ("Uncle Bob") has written the principles that define the profession--and the craft--of software development. Uncle Bob brings together the disciplines, standards, and ethics you need to deliver robust, effective code and to be proud of all the software you write. Robert Martin, the best-selling author of Clean Code, provides a pragmatic, technical, and prescriptive guide to the foundational disciplines of software craftsmanship. He discusses standards, showing how the world's expectations of developers often differ from their own and helping you bring the two in sync. Bob concludes with the ethics of the programming profession, describing the fundamental promises all developers should make to their colleagues, their users, and, above all, themselves. With Uncle Bob's insights, all programmers and their managers can consistently deliver code that builds trust instead of undermining it--trust among users and throughout societies that depend on software for their survival. Moving towards the "north star" of true software craftsmanship: the state of knowing how to program well Practical, specific guidance for applying five core disciplines: test-driven development, refactoring, simple design, collaborative programming, and acceptance tests How developers and teams can promote productivity, quality, and courage The true meaning of integrity and teamwork among programmers, and ten specific commitments every software professional should make Register your book for convenient access to the book's companion videos, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Windsor chairs are a beautiful and traditional feature in any home. Some three hundred years of tradition lie behind chairs made today. While sound joints are essential, it is the sensitive shaping of each component that leads to a fine chair. This lavish book celebrates their history and explains their heritage. It compares and contrasts the distinct Windsor designs from England and America. Tools, techniques and the selection of materials are extensively covered. Detailed plans and measurements for four chairs [two English, two American] are provided and allow makers on one side of the Atlantic to attempt a chair from the other side. A unique study of a magnificent 18th century armchair brings to life the 260 year old story told by the tool marks and other clues left by the maker. Guidance and techniques explain how to design your own chair from scratch, taking into account the anthropomorphic nature of these chairs and the messages they can send out.

This work provides an insight into the history of Welsh stick chairs and includes instructions on how to make a chair, covering methods of bending the wood for chair construction. Illustrations show each stage in the building process.