# braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer

A guide on how to be a Programmer - originally published by Robert L Read

Repository: https://github.com/braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/howtobeaprogrammer
Homepage: https://braydie.gitbooks.io/how-to-be-a-programmer/content/
License Family: other
Topics: learning, programming
Last push: 2025-09-28T17:08:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 52/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 44, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3894, "days_push": 339, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 16305, forks 1356 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:15.081974+00:00)

## What it is
A community-maintained essay and guide by Robert L. Read on the personal, technical, and social skills needed to be a good programmer, available in multiple languages and as a GitBook. It covers topics from debugging to working with teams and customers.

## Use cases
- learn how to become a better programmer
- advice for junior developers starting a career
- understanding soft skills and teamwork in software engineering
- learning debugging techniques
- reading a classic essay on programming craft
- finding beginner programming guidance in multiple languages

## When to choose
- you are a beginner or early-career programmer seeking broad guidance
- you want advice on the social and professional side of software work
- you want a free, translated, community-improved resource

## When to avoid
- you need a technical reference or language-specific tutorial
- you want hands-on exercises or interactive learning
- you need up-to-date coverage of modern tooling and frameworks

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: maintenance
- function: documentation, developer-tools
- domain: education, developer-tools, tutorials
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: programming-guide, career-advice, soft-skills, essay, beginner, community-edition

## Member repositories
- braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer (main) score 52

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.081974+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:05:09.201084+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.081974+00:00, sha e671a053cb7a)
  - homepage: https://braydie.gitbooks.io/how-to-be-a-programmer/content/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:03:02.383637+00:00, sha f29061ace4c3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.