Kent Beck
Encyclopedia
Kent Beck is an American software engineer
and the creator of the Extreme Programming
Kent Beck has an M.S.
degree in computer science
from the University of Oregon
. He has pioneered software design patterns
, the rediscovery of test-driven development
, as well as the commercial application of Smalltalk
. Beck popularized CRC cards with Ward Cunningham
and along with Erich Gamma
created the JUnit
unit testing framework.
Kent lives in Medford, Oregon
.
Software engineer
A software engineer is an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as computer chips, work.- Overview :...
and the creator of the Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming
Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
Kent Beck has an M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
. He has pioneered software design patterns
Design pattern (computer science)
In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template for how to solve a problem that...
, the rediscovery of test-driven development
Test-driven development
Test-driven development is a software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle: first the developer writes a failing automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function, then produces code to pass that test and finally refactors the new...
, as well as the commercial application of Smalltalk
Smalltalk
Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
. Beck popularized CRC cards with Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham , on...
and along with Erich Gamma
Erich Gamma
Erich Gamma is Swiss computer scientist and co-author of the influential Software engineering textbook, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. He co-wrote the JUnit software testing framework with Kent Beck and led the design of the Eclipse platform's Java Development Tools...
created the JUnit
JUnit
JUnit is a unit testing framework for the Java programming language. JUnit has been important in the development of test-driven development, and is one of a family of unit testing frameworks collectively known as xUnit that originated with SUnit....
unit testing framework.
Kent lives in Medford, Oregon
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
.
Books
- 1996. Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns. Prentice Hall. (ISBN 978-0134769042)
- 1996. Kent Beck's Guide to Better Smalltalk : A Sorted Collection. Cambridge University Press. (ISBN 978-0521644372)
- 1999. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change. Addison-Wesley. Winner of the Jolt Productivity Award. (ISBN 978-0321278654)
- 2000. Planning Extreme Programming. With Martin FowlerMartin Fowler-Online presentations:* at RailsConf 2006* at JAOO 2006* at QCon London 2007 * at QCon London 2008 * at ThoughtWorks Quarterly Technology Briefing, October 2008...
. Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 978-0201710915) - 2002. Test-Driven Development: By ExampleTest-Driven Development by ExampleTest Driven Development: By Example is a book about a software development technique by Kent Beck.Beck's concept of test-driven development centers on two basic rules:#Never write a single line of code unless you have a failing automated test....
. Addison-Wesley. Winner of the Jolt Productivity Award. (ISBN 978-0321146533) - 2003. Contributing to Eclipse: Principles, Patterns, and Plugins. With Erich GammaErich GammaErich Gamma is Swiss computer scientist and co-author of the influential Software engineering textbook, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. He co-wrote the JUnit software testing framework with Kent Beck and led the design of the Eclipse platform's Java Development Tools...
. Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 978-0321205759) - 2004. JUnit Pocket Guide. O'Reilly. (ISBN 978-0596007430)
- 2005. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition. With Cynthia Andres. Addison-Wesley. Completely rewritten. (ISBN 978-0201616415)
- 2008. Implementation Patterns. Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 978-0321413093)
Selected papers
- 1987. "Using Pattern Languages for Object-Oriented Programs". With Ward Cunningham. OOPSLAOOPSLAOOPSLA is an annual ACM research conference. OOPSLA mainly takes place in the United States, while the sister conference of OOPSLA, ECOOP, is typically held in Europe...
'87. - 1989. "A Laboratory For Teaching Object-Oriented Thinking". With Ward Cunningham. OOPSLA'89.
- 1989. "Simple Smalltalk Testing: With Patterns". Origins of xUnit frameworks.
External links
- KentBeck on the WikiWikiWebWikiWikiWebWikiWikiWeb is a term that has been used to refer to four things: the first wiki, or user-editable website, launched on 25 March 1995 by Ward Cunningham as part of the Portland Pattern Repository ; the Perl-based application that was used to run it, also developed by Cunningham, which was the first...
- Kent Beck's page at the Three Rivers Institute
- Kent Beck's blog
- Books by Kent Beck
- http://www.informit.com/content/images/9780321413093/samplechapter/BeckCh_0321413091.pdf sample chapter of Kent's book, IMPLEMENTATION PATTERNS
- http://www.jonathancrossland.com/post/TalkWare-Episode-2-with-Kent-Beck.aspx TalkWare Podcast interview with Kent Beck
- http://twit.tv/floss87 FLOSS Weekly interview with Kent Beck