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Hammock Driven Development - Rich Hickey

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  • Recommended by 15 people: 12 on Hacker News, 1 on Lobsters and 2 curated lists.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2014 to 2026.
  • Presented by Rich Hickey, creator of Clojure
  • An opinion. It argues one side of a question engineers disagree on.

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

332K views13 years ago15 recommendations

Tools and practiceSoftware designSimplicity and complexitySoftware architectureDeveloper productivity

Rich Hickey explains how deliberate, away-from-keyboard thinking and preparing the background mind can solve hard software design problems.

Rich Hickey's second, "philosophical" talk at the first Clojure Conj, in Durham, North Carolina on October 23rd, 2010. Many thanks to Matt Courtney, who graciously provided the equipment and expertise that made this recording possible.

Why it's here

15 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a classic talk on software design and problem solving that changes how engineers approach difficult programming challenges.

gunduzcon Lobsters • Recommends

"Hammock Driven Development" (2010)
26View on Lobsters

hire_chartson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Rich Hickey Fanclub”

That and Hammock Driven Development: link to this video Both of these talks are in my top 5. Edit (okay, here are the other 3): * All the Little Things by Sandi Metz link * Programming is terrible—Lessons learned from a life wasted. link * Some talk I saw by Dan McKinley on making Data-Driven decisions. I can't find the original video, but here's a really similar one: link
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programming-talkscurated list on GitHubRecommends

Under “Software Development”

Hammock Driven Development 00:39:49 by **Rich Hickey** (2012)
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awesome-talkscurated list on GitHubRecommends

Under “Cognitive Development”

Hammock Driven Development by **Rich Hickey** (Clojure/Conj 2010) 39:48
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cagefaceon Hacker News • Recommends

On “The End of Agile: Death by Over-Simplification”

This is a classic and hilarious series of posts on the foolhardiness of the TDD approach to software design: link Personally I prefer Rich Hickey's "Hammock Driven Development": link to this video
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bjwbellon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Stanford study shows success of different programming styles in CS class”

"don't get stuck" reminds me of the feynman method of problem solving: 1. Write down the problem. 2. Think very hard. 3. Write down the answer. Rich Hickey's Hammock Driven Development, link to this video , is IMO very good for actually not getting stuck in a bad place problem solving.
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dyadicon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Building a Startup in 45 Minutes per Day While Deployed in Iraq”

This is very similar to what Rich Hickey (creator of Clojure) talks about when he talks about Hammock Driven Development, I recommend watching him talking about it here: link to this video
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abc_lisperon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How many programmers out there keep a paper notebook for their projects?”

I was searching for exactly the same stuff yesterday, and I found this: link I usually keep notebooks, but I am ever more convinced of using one because of Rich hickey's talk: link to this video and we have a better chance of remembering something if we write than type. link . I have previously read that people like Martin Gardner had an awesome system of keeping notes. I would love to know more about your tips. How do keep your notes? How do you organize stuff, while retaining the freedom to doodle. How do you find stuff again(which is the killer feature for typed notes). Would love to learn from the masters - do you have any books to recommend?
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udfalksoon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Lecture on Creativity (1991)”

I have loved this talk for some time and have forced everyone at my company to watch the video. I found a lot of parallels with this "Hammock Driven Development" talk by Rich Hickey: link to this video They both seem to suggest that you have to put in the effort, do the hard work and dig into the problem deeply. But then when you hit a wall, you should take a break. Relax. Play. Sleep. It is often during this "open" minded stage when the solution comes.
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digaozaoon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Streams: a new general purpose data structure in Redis”

I like this kind of development also. But I don't think it is for everyone (the person has to keep thinking on the problem for long time). A good talk about It, from the creator of clojure: link to this video
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valwon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Readme-Driven Development (2010)”

This makes me think of Rich Hickey's Hammock Driven Development: link to this video - "Stay away from the computer" - Start by asking: "what is the problem?"
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sgentleon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: I feel like I should be working all the time and its killing me”

…itively answer these questions, and research or experiment until you have that evidence. Anxious thoughts are like dreams: they seem perfectly reasonable in your head, but when you try to bring them into the real world they fall apart. As far as evidence goes, I'd point you in the direction of two of my favourite Richards. The one who did Clojure: link to this video and the one who got a Nobel for Quantum Electrodynamics: link…
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jugjugon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How does one becomes a pro at Software Engineering”

I think a good starting point is to integrate the principles described in the Simple Made Easy1 & Hammock Driven Development2. These are overarching first principles that help in designing and writing code, but also in communication & team work. 1: link 2: link to this video
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bhntr3on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Did you take any fresh MOOCs as of 2020?”

In terms of mind-expanding or intellectually stimulating, I find it's easier to get that from Youtube. I recommend: 3blue1brown for math ( link ) Everyday Astronaut if you are casually interested in rockets ( link ) Bret Victor ( link ) or Rich Hickey ( link to this video ) for programming and design. Doing a full college course is such a time investment and it usually takes a few weeks to start proving the interesting stuff. I find it more fun to look to shorter content for inspiration. I might realize I don't understand the fundamentals of the topic and then seek out a way to study it.
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the-alchemiston Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?”

Rich Hickey, of Clojure fame, has a talk you might find interesting. It goes by multiple titles: * Step Away from the Computer * Hammock-Driven Development link to this video The idea / hypothesis is that sometimes we need to sit down and think about something for an hour, a day... This seemingly "wasted time" can pay huge dividends in long-term health of a project. Like compound interest. As others have noted, this may seen "lazy" to managers, especially if LOC or sprint velocity is the metric they use.
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u/porthos3in r/compsci • Mentions

On “Entertaining CS YouTube channels?”

They aren't all on YouTube, but Rich Hickey has a lot of excellent lectures about functional programming, and programming in general. Here's some of his better-recommended lectures. I'd highly recommend Simple Made Easy and The Value of Values for learning about good functional programming practices, how they can make software development easier, and how they can be applied. Hammock Driven Development is also excellent and talks about how to solve tough problems, balance multiple software projects, and essentially live a healthy life of software development and constant learning.
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