Agent skill · wondelai
pragmatic-programmer
Apply meta-principles of software craftsmanship: DRY, orthogonality, tracer bullets, and design by contract. Use when the user mentions "best practices", "pragmatic approach", "broken windows", "tracer bullet", "software craftsmanship", "avoid technical debt", "code ownership", or "how do I become a better developer". Also trigger when evaluating build-vs-buy decisions, designing estimation approaches, or choosing between reversible and irreversible architectural decisions. Covers estimation, domain languages, and reversibility. For code-level quality, see clean-code. For refactoring techniques, see refactoring-patterns.
What it needs
About 10k tokens when loaded.
What this skill does
The Pragmatic Programmer Framework A systems-level approach to software craftsmanship from Hunt & Thomas' "The Pragmatic Programmer" (20th Anniversary Edition). Apply these meta-principles when designing systems, reviewing architecture, writing code, or advising on engineering culture -- how to think about software, not just how to write it. Core Principle Care about your craft. Software development demands continuous learning, disciplined practice, and personal responsibility -- pragmatic programmers think beyond the immediate problem to context, trade-offs, and long-term consequences. Great software comes from great habits: avoid duplication ruthlessly, keep components orthogonal, and treat every line of code as a living asset that must earn its place. The goal is not perfection -- it is systems that are easy to change, easy to understand, and easy to trust. Scoring Goal: 10/10. Score against the seven Quick Diagnostic rows: award ~1.4 points per row answered "yes" (7 yes = 10). Then band the result: 9-10: every principle holds -- DRY knowledge, orthogonal layers, a working tracer slice, contracts at boundaries, no broken windows, reversible vendor/DB choices, ranged estimates. 5-6: 1-2 violations that cost real change-effort (e.g. business logic coupled to the DB, single-point estimates). <=3: pervasive duplication, global state, or accumulated broken windows -- entropy is winning. Always state the score, name the failing diagnostic rows, and give the specific fix from the Action column to reach 10/10. The Seven Meta-Principles Seven principles for building software that lasts: 1. DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) Core concept: Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system. DRY is about knowledge, not code -- duplicated logic, business rules, or configuration are far more dangerous than duplicated syntax. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills wondelai/pragmatic-programmer--2149b2