Origin

Although widely considered an Agile approach, XP predates the term “Agile” by several years. XP stands for Extreme Programming, and is a suite of Practices, Principles, and Values invented by Kent Beck in the late ‘90s.

Learning It

Our recommended way of learning XP is through…

[Book] Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition - Kent Beck
What is Extreme Programming? - Ron Jefferies
Extreme Programming: A gentle introduction - Don Wells

XP Spine

From the perspective of prospective users of eXtreme Programming…

Need (Where might it be used?)

Extreme Programming is a discipline of software development based on values of simplicity, communication, feedback, courage, and respect. It works by bringing the whole team together in the presence of simple practices, with enough feedback to enable the team to see where they are and to tune the practices to their unique situation.

Source: What is Extreme Programming?

Values (What does it optimise for?)

Principles (What is it based on?)

See XP Principles.

Practices (What does it suggest you do?)

See XP Practices.

Tip: XP’s philosophy on Practices is very non-prescriptive, and advises an explorative approach, based on the XP Principles and XP Values listed above.

Tools (What does it suggest you use?)

XP does not explicitly recommend any Tools.