The Best Software Writing Indeed!

I just finished The Best Software Writing I, selected and edited by Joel Spolsky. The idea is that Joel asked his readers to nominate their favorite online articles from 2004, and then Joel picked through the nominations and put them together in a hardcopy book. Many of these I remember reading when they were first posted, others were new finds. Mary Poppendieck's article "Team Compensation" is worth the price of admission alone; Eric Sink's writing is always a pleasure, and "the lucky stiff"'s A Quick (and Hopefully Painless) Ride Through Ruby (with Cartoon Foxes) was simply delightful. Add in the likes of Raymond Chen and Larry Osterman and many others and you have yourself an excellent bit of reading.

Now I just want 2005 over with so I can peruse The Best Software Writing II!