Clean Architecture
Clean Architecture by Robert C. Martinby Robert C. Martin
Ranked 11 of 21 software engineering books by recommenders
Senior engineers recommend it and call it fantastic, but critics say it was overhyped and written to make money from sales and lectures.
Senior engineers recommend it and call it fantastic, but critics say it was overhyped and written to make money from sales and lectures.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Praised as fantastic and enjoyable
“I'm enjoying it so far, there is overlap with Clean Code”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “Clean Architecture is fantastic”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Author and motives criticized as commercial
“The entire purpose of CA was for people to make money off book sales, lectures, and consulting.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Martin Fowler: Technical, Cognitive, and Intent Debt” “Clean Architecture and Uncle Bob can take a hike.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Uncle Bob: It's Over”
Other software engineering books people recommend
The four most recommended other software engineering books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Mythical Man-Monthby Frederick P. Brooks | 56 | 3 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Designing Data-Intensive Applicationsby Martin Kleppmann | 37 | 1 | 97% | 12 | — | Approved |
| A Philosophy of Software Designby John K. Ousterhout | 28 | 1 | 97% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Code Completeby Steve McConnell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Clean Architectureby Robert C. MartinThis page | 6 | 3 | 67% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“love the references of Alan Turing there”
“I'm enjoying it so far, there is overlap with Clean Code”
“was very bad advice, which was marketed and hyped up to something it never deserved”
“Clean Architecture and Uncle Bob can take a hike.”
“The entire purpose of CA was for people to make money off book sales, lectures, and consulting.”
“I've worked through ... Clean Architecture”
“I still recommend it to every Senior+ Software Engineer.”
“Clean Architecture is fantastic”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.