About
Adam Tornhill is a programmer who combines degrees in engineering and psychology. He’s the founder and CTO of CodeScene -- the next generation code analysis tool -- to help companies succeed with software development. Adam is also the author of multiple technical books, including the best selling Your Code as a Crime Scene, as well as an international keynote speaker and software researcher.
As the founder of CodeScene, Adam aims to revolutionize software development, leveraging AI-driven methodologies to optimize code quality. Adam's expertise and research have made him a sought-after speaker, inspiring audiences worldwide with his insights into software engineering, the business impact of code quality, and AI innovation. With acclaimed books and patents to his name, Adam continues to shape the future of software development, driving excellence in the industry.
In his spare time, Adam enjoys other interests such as modern history, music, retro computing, and martial arts.
Articles by Adam
Activity
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One of the keys to convincing executives to refactor / reduce technical debt in a product is the ability to quantify the economic value of reduced…
One of the keys to convincing executives to refactor / reduce technical debt in a product is the ability to quantify the economic value of reduced…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
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Can having good code design help the bottom line? Adam Tornhill tells special guest Leonard Greski and I about his past experience in improving…
Can having good code design help the bottom line? Adam Tornhill tells special guest Leonard Greski and I about his past experience in improving…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
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LSCC Meetup - Code Quality in the AI Age We are delighted to announce a special LSCC Meetup on Wednesday May 15th with our friends from CodeScene…
LSCC Meetup - Code Quality in the AI Age We are delighted to announce a special LSCC Meetup on Wednesday May 15th with our friends from CodeScene…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
Experience
Education
Volunteer Experience
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Mentor
QCon Rehearsal Community
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Program Committee member
SoHeal Workshop
Publications
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Increasing, not Diminishing: Investigating the Returns of Highly Maintainable Code
7th International Conference on Technical Debt
This paper received the prestigious Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Technical Debt 2024.
Our research explored how the quality of source code affects business outcomes. Key questions include how code health relates to defect counts and development time, and how different levels of code health impact value creation for the business. From there we developed a statistical model which lets software companies estimate their Return-On-Investment if code quality is improved. -
Your Code as a Crime Scene, Second Edition
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Jack the Ripper and legacy codebases have more in common than you’d think. Inspired by forensic psychology methods, you can apply strategies to identify problems in your existing code, assess refactoring direction, and understand how your team influences the software architecture. With its unique blend of criminal psychology and code analysis, Your Code as a Crime Scene arms you with the techniques you need to take on any codebase, no matter what programming language you use.
The…Jack the Ripper and legacy codebases have more in common than you’d think. Inspired by forensic psychology methods, you can apply strategies to identify problems in your existing code, assess refactoring direction, and understand how your team influences the software architecture. With its unique blend of criminal psychology and code analysis, Your Code as a Crime Scene arms you with the techniques you need to take on any codebase, no matter what programming language you use.
The original Your Code as a Crime Scene from 2014 pioneered techniques for understanding the intersection of people and code. This new edition reflects a decade of additional experience from hundreds of projects. Updated techniques, novel case studies, and extensive new material adds to the strengths of this cult classic. -
Refactoring vs Refuctoring: Advancing the state of AI-automated code improvements
CodeScene AB
This report is the conclusion of a benchmark study of the most popular Large
Language Models (LLMs) and their ability to generate code for refactoring
tasks. We aim to illustrate the current standards and limitations, and seek to
show new methodologies with higher confidence results. -
Code Red: The Business Impact of Code Quality
International conference on Technical Debt 2022
This research paper establishes a correlation between code quality and a business impact. This study provides evidence that code quality cannot be dismissed as a technical concern. With 15 times fewer defects, twice the development speed, and substantially more predictable issue resolution times, the business advantage of high quality code should be unmistakably clear.
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Software Design X-Rays: Fix Technical Debt with Behavioral Code Analysis
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Are you working on a codebase where cost overruns, death marches, and heroic fights with legacy code monsters are the norm? Battle these adversaries with novel ways to identify and prioritize technical debt, based on behavioral data from how developers work with code. And that’s just for starters. Because good code involves social design, as well as technical design, you can find surprising dependencies between people and code to resolve coordination bottlenecks among teams. Best of all, the…
Are you working on a codebase where cost overruns, death marches, and heroic fights with legacy code monsters are the norm? Battle these adversaries with novel ways to identify and prioritize technical debt, based on behavioral data from how developers work with code. And that’s just for starters. Because good code involves social design, as well as technical design, you can find surprising dependencies between people and code to resolve coordination bottlenecks among teams. Best of all, the techniques build on behavioral data that you already have: your version-control system. Join the fight for better code!
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Your Code As a Crime Scene
The Pragmatic Bookshelf
Jack the Ripper and legacy codebases have more in common than you’d think. Inspired by forensic psychology methods, this book teaches you strategies to predict the future of your codebase, assess refactoring direction, and understand how your team influences the design. With its unique blend of forensic psychology and code analysis, this book arms you with the strategies you need, no matter what programming language you use.
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Patterns in C: Patterns, Idioms and Design Principles
Leanpub
Patterns in C is a collection of idioms, design and architectural patterns in the C programming language. The book highlights the value of patterns as an excellent tool for communication and reasoning. The book provides a C programmer with techniques to benefit from the growing body of knowledge captured in patterns.
Projects
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CodeScene
- Present
CodeScene is a powerful visualization tool for predictive analyses on large codebases.
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Code Maat
- Present
Code Maat is a command line tool used to mine and analyze data from version-control systems (VCS).
Code Maat was developed to accompany the discussions in my book, Your Code as a Crime Scene. -
Distributed Erlang nodes in C++
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This project is a platform independent, open-source library for building distributed Erlang nodes in C++. I developed the project to sharpen my C++ skills and deepen my understanding of Erlang's programming model.
Languages
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Svenska
Native or bilingual proficiency
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Engelska
Professional working proficiency
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Tyska
Professional working proficiency
More activity by Adam
Will we see you in London? 👀 Don't miss an exciting panel discussion about AI and Code Quality with host Maciej Kowalski, Principal Craftsperson…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
And it's a wrap for Incubyte at #TiECon2024! Our founders, Rushali Parikh & Sapan Parikh, had a fantastic time connecting with fellow innovators &…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
Are you in London for SDD (Software Design & Development) Conference? 👇 Don't miss Adam Tornhill speaking about "Writing code for the human brain:…
Liked by Adam Tornhill
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