Episode · The Pragmatic Engineer · 2026-09-17

Gergely Orosz & Matt Pocock: books mentioned on The Pragmatic Engineer

AI Skills with Matt Pocock

3 books · With Matt Pocock · Listen · Watch on YouTube

Brought to You By: • turbopuffer – a vector and full-text search engine built on object storage. It’s fast, cheap, and extremely scalable • Linear – the product development system for teams and agents • WorkOS – everything you need to make your app enterprise ready.

Matt Pocock discussed The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and others, A Philosophy of Software Design by John K. Ousterhout, and Domain-driven Design by Eric Evans.

Books mentioned, in the order they came up

We earn a commission if you buy through the store links below, at no cost to you.

  1. The Pragmatic Programmer

    Andrew Hunt; David Thomas · at 52:49 · mentioned 3 times

    The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas is a classic software engineering manual that outlines core philosophies, practical habits, and strategic methodologies for writing maintainable code.

    Discussed
    “I just I opened a book that I had on my shelf that I I think was still wrapped in plastic the first time I took it out, which was the pragmatic programmer. Um, which is everyone told me to read it.”
    Where to get it
  2. A Philosophy of Software Design

    John K. Ousterhout · at 55:37 · mentioned 3 times

    A Philosophy of Software Design by John K.

    Discussed
    “And another one was John Asterout's book philosophy of software design where I picked up tons of great stuff like deep modules is which is a massive one for me.”
    Where to get it
  3. Domain-driven Design

    Eric Evans · at 57:04 · mentioned 3 times

    Domain-driven Design by Eric Evans is a core software engineering book that explores how to model complex business domains and establish a shared ubiquitous language among developers.

    Discussed
    “And it led me to DDD, domain driven, domain different design. Eric Evans incredible book where he talks about ubiquitous language. A language again really deep in the agent's prize.”
    Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Mythical Man-Month
“I'm sure at some point you'll get to mythical man month. Yeah, I've got it already.”
Passing Domain-driven Design
“Instead, he went back to classic software engineering books. The pragmatic programmer, a philosophy of software design, and domain driven design.”
Passing The Pragmatic Programmer
“Instead, he went back to classic software engineering books. The pragmatic programmer, a philosophy of software design, and domain driven design.”
Passing A Philosophy of Software Design
“Instead, he went back to classic software engineering books. The pragmatic programmer, a philosophy of software design, and domain driven design.”
Passing A Philosophy of Software Design
“Check out the show notes below for an interview with John Auster How, the author of a Philadelphia software design, a book I really love, and related deep dives for AI engineering and context engineering.”