6. Practicing

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All professionals practice their art by engaging in skill-sharpening exercises. Musicians rehearse scales. Football players run through tires. Doctors practice sutures and surgical techniques. Lawyers practice arguments. Soldiers rehearse missions. When performance matters, professionals practice. This chapter is all about the ways in which programmers can practice their art.

Some Background on Practicing

Practicing is not a new concept in software development, but we didn’t recognize it as practicing until just after the turn of the millennium. Perhaps the first formal instance of a practice program was printed on page 6 of

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