Shadowing Practice: What is clean code? - Uncle Bob - Learn English Speaking with Video
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80 sentences
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So I wrote to Yarna, I said, Yarna, what does clean code mean to you?
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And he said, and this is very typical of Yarna Strewstrup, he said, I like my code to be elegant and efficient.
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And then he said this, clean code does one thing well.
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One thing well.
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Now this one thing idea has been around in software for 40 years or more.
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People are always writing about how a function should do one thing and one thing well.
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It's a very, very old idea.
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And Strustrip echoes it here.
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Grady Booch, the chief scientist at Rational.
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He wrote a book in 1988 called Object-Oriented Software Design with Applications.
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Anybody read that book?
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1980s, late 80s?
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Do we have anybody who was born then?
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Yeah, okay, good.
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All right, so that's fine.
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Fascinating book, very early book on object-oriented design.
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Grady Butch is also the first person, I believe, to have the title chief scientist.
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I think he invented that.
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And Rational said, yeah, you can be the chief scientist, that's fine.
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And ever since then, everybody's wanted to be a chief scientist at some company somewhere.
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So I asked Grady, you know, Grady, what's clean code?
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He said, clean code is simple and direct, fine.
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And then he said this, clean code reads like well written prose.
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Have you ever read code that read like well-written prose?
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And let's go to Michael Feathers.
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Michael Feathers.
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I wrote to Michael, I said, hey Michael, what's clean code?
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And he said, clean code always looks like it was written by someone who cares.
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What a lovely statement.
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That's a good attitude right there.
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Clean code always looks like it was written by someone who cares.
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When's the last time you read a module
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and your thought as you were reading that module was the author cared about me.
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The author cared about everybody else who was going to be reading that code.
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When's the last time you had that experience, the author of this code cared about me.
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Very interesting.
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And by the way, it brings up a fascinating point.
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What's your job?
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You may think that your job is to get code to work.
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That's not your job.
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That's only half of your job, and it's the least important half of your job.
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The more important part of your job is that you must write code that other people can maintain,
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can use, can make work.
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If you hand me code that works perfectly, perfectly, but I can't understand it, then as soon as the requirements change, that code is useless.
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On the other hand, if you give me code that does not work, but I can understand it, I can make it work.
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It is much more important
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that your peers be able to understand the code you write than that the computer can understand the code that you wrote.
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It is more important to communicate with your peers using a programming language than it is to communicate with the computer.
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Because if you do that well, somebody will make it work.
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The last one.
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Ward Cunningham.
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Who knows who Ward Cunningham is?
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Somebody heard the name?
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You know who that is.
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A few of you do.
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You'll know who he is as soon as I tell you.
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He's the guy who invented the wiki.
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Who's used a wiki?
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Everybody puts their hand up.
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Okay, good.
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Okay, Ward Cunningham is the guy who invented the wiki.
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He invented the wiki out of 19 lines of pearl in 1990 something or other.
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Put it up on the website.
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By the way, that very first wiki is still alive.
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You can get to it if you want to.
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The URL is c2.com.
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The letter C and the digit 2.com.
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That is the very first wiki ever.
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It's still there.
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And by the way, it's full of fascinating stuff.
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You'll see all kinds of design pattern stuff and extreme programming stuff
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and agile stuff because it was there at the beginning
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and i asked ward ward what's clean code and he said this
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you know you're working on clean code when each routine you read turns out to be pretty much what you expected
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when's the last time you read code
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and as you're reading it it was pretty much what you expected you're reading along
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and you're going yeah yes yep yep yep yes mm-hmm yep yep yep when's the last time you had that experience
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what he's saying is no wtfs per minute zero clean code
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is no surprises no wtfs everything is pretty much what you expected.
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That's good clean code.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “What is clean code? - Uncle Bob”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: code, clean, wiki, ward, Grady. This video has 80 sentences and 776 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:37. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wiki noun | /ˈwɪki/ | A collaborative website which can be directly edited merely by using a web browser, often by anyone who has access to it. |
| ward noun | /wɔɹd/ | The action of a watchman; monitoring, surveillance (usually in phrases keep ward etc.) |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| invent verb | /ɪnˈvɛnt/ | To design a new process or mechanism. |
| communicate verb | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/ | To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. |
| peer noun | /pɪɹ/ | Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else). |
| module noun | /ˈmɑd͡ʒul/ | A self-contained component of a system, often interchangeable, which has a well-defined interface to the other components. |
| prose noun | /ˈpɹoʊz/ | Language, particularly written language, not intended as poetry. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| requirement noun | /ɹɪˈkwaɪɹmənt/ | A necessity or prerequisite; something required or obligatory. Its adpositions are generally of in relation to who or what has given it, on in relation to whom… |
| pearl noun | /pɝl/ | A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain… |
| echo noun | /ˈɛk.oʊ/ | A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer. |
| elegant adjective | /ˈɛləɡənt/ | Characterised by or exhibiting elegance; having grace, refinement, or tasteful simplicity. |
| digit noun | /ˈdɪd͡ʒɪt/ | A position in a sequence of numerals representing a place value in a positional number system. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bring up verb | To mention. |
| hand up verb | To deliver an indictment (e.g. to a judge). |
| read along verb | To read together with another person, or with another presentation (TV etc) |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | anybody who was · someone who cares · guy who invented |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was born · was written |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · Have you ever read |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, you'll, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like wiki, ward, scientist.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.