PRACTICES OF A AGILE PROGRAMMER, Andy Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmers

I had to read this book, as it has both "practices" and "pragmatic" in the title.
It is a great catalog. It is designed in short chapters (~2/3 pages) which gives a real rythm to the reading.
What I put into practice:
+ I use CruiseControl to automate the one-action build of my current project;
+ I work from the list.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, by Robert Martin

It is great to have the oo-principles explained in one same book.

We put into practice the part on dependy metrics on several applications.
What I put into practice:
+ I adaped Uncle Bob's dependy metrics tool (depend.sh) for Ada95 and plugged it in our automated build;
+ I pay attention to the oo-principles when writting and reviewing code.

REFACTORING, by Martin FOWLER

I really enjoyed the pragmatic approach to refactoring: run the tests, change the code in a little step, compile and run the tests, and so on.
The part on test-driven development is very clear and the article on the fact that the design is the code are just great.
This book is a must read!
What I put into practice:
+ I program in many little reversible steps;
+ I refactor ;o)

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

EXTREME PROGRAMMING EXPLAINED, by Kent Beck

I read this book after starting to practice XP. It helped me understand how the practices worked so well together to achieve the principles.

What I put into practice:

+ I stopped trying to systematically apply all XP practices in an eXtreme way, but rather identified and applied specific practices which bring value to my business, such as continuous traceability, continuous code coverage mesure and continuous functional coverage measure.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

GESTION DE PROJET EXTREME PROGRAMMING, by Regis Medina, Eyrolles.

I discovered eXtremeProgramming with this book. It is very convincing. It made me want to practice XP. It even made me practice XP.
What I put into practice:
+ Information radiators;
+ Stand-up meetings;
+ Common workspace.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

CONCEPTION ORIENTEE OBJET, by Bertrand Meyer, Eyrolles

This book is pretty hard to read!
First, its a huge book. Too big for me to read in one go. So big reading it may seem discouraging. So I read chapters from time to time.
Second, it's complicated. Not because it isn't well written - but because the author explains the real issues of object-oriented programming.
The chapter on design-by-contract is fabulous. This is a practice which really made us improve our programming. This book is a reference.
What I put into practice:
+ My mentor made me apply design-by-contract with assertions.
+ I express design in source.
+ I autodocument the code.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

MY JOB WENT TO INDIA, by Chad FOWLER, The Pragmatic Programmers

This book is full of GREAT advice to improve your work on the short and long terms. Most of the advice isn't even restricted to IT jobs.
Reading it made me reconsider many aspects of my job. It helped me identify things I had to improve. Actually, the author even made me want to go work in Bengalore!
What I put into practice:
+ I suscribed to a programming magazine.
+ I made this blog.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.