Robert Cecil Martin (born 5 December 1952), colloquially called "Uncle Bob",^[2] is an American software engineer^{[citation needed]}, instructor, and author. He is most recognized for promoting many software design principles and for being an author and signatory of the influential Agile Manifesto.^[3]

Martin has authored many books and magazine articles. He was the editor-in-chief of C++ Report magazine and served as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance.^[4][5]

Martin joined the software industry at age 17 and is self-taught.^[6]

In 1991, Martin founded Object Mentor,^[7] now defunct, which provided instructor-led training on the extreme programming methodology.^[8] As of November 2023^[update], he operated Uncle Bob Consulting, which provides consulting and training services.^[9] He is also a "Master Craftsman / Mentor" at Clean Coders, a company which is run by his son Micah Martin, and produces training videos.^[10]

Martin is a proponent of software craftsmanship, agile software development, and test-driven development.^[11]

He is credited with coining the SOLID mnemonic,^[12] a collection of software principles. The principles are as follows: "Single Responsibility Principle", "Open-Closed Principle" (invented by Bertrand Meyer^[13][14]), "Liskov Substitution Principle" (invented by Barbara Liskov^[15]), "Interface Segregation Principle", and "Dependency Inversion Principle".

• 1995. Designing Object-Oriented C++ Applications Using the Booch Method. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0132038379.
• 2000. More C++ Gems. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521786188.
• 2002. Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices. Pearson. ISBN 978-0135974445.
• 2003. UML for Java Programmers. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0131428485.
• 2006. Agile Principles, Patterns, And Practices in C#. Pearson. ISBN 978-0131857254.
• 2009. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0132350884.
• 2011. The Clean Coder: A Code Of Conduct For Professional Programmers. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0137081073.
• 2017. Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0134494166.
• 2019. Clean Agile: Back to Basics. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0135781869.
• 2021. Clean Craftsmanship: Disciplines, Standards, and Ethics. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0136915805
• 2023. Functional Design: Principles, Patterns, and Practices. Addison-Wesley ISBN 978-0138176396