Books that made you a better programmer
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
As Edsger Dijkstra said, programming is an art. It cannot be taught, like painting cannot be taught. You can be taught how to set up the easel, how to mix the colors to get what you want, how to use specific brushes for specific purposes, etc. But learning that won't make you into a Rembrandt. If you think you are going to be a better programmer by reading books, you are sadly mistaken. You should be programming in VB! :sigh:
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As Edsger Dijkstra said, programming is an art. It cannot be taught, like painting cannot be taught. You can be taught how to set up the easel, how to mix the colors to get what you want, how to use specific brushes for specific purposes, etc. But learning that won't make you into a Rembrandt. If you think you are going to be a better programmer by reading books, you are sadly mistaken. You should be programming in VB! :sigh:
While it is true that programming is an art.
Vivic wrote:
If you think you are going to be a better programmer by reading books, you are sadly mistaken.
At least in my experience, I have never seen a good programmer who has not read some of the books I have mentioned. There have been no exceptions and yes I have seen lot of programmers in my career. The best programmers I have seen with almost no exception have been voracious readers whether books or learning via seeing others code.
Proud to be a CPHog user
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
Interesting thread! I can't list them all, there have been many over the last 20+ years, but some of the most decisive have been (in no particular order) 1) Graphics Gems (all of them) 2) AMIGA RKMs (ROM Kernel Manuals) 3) the best to help me go from C to C++: Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel(vol1+vol2) (both are free downloadable as PDF as well) Hope this helps!
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Everything by Douglas Adams, Michael Crichton, ...
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
"Design Patterns" - GOF
Really only helps to discuss programming issues.
Agreed. But the book that really changed my programming style and influenced my teaching to hundreds of students in the 80s was "Introduction to Pascal" by Jim Welsh & John Elder. By the way, did you hear that Crichton just died this week?
Regards, Ricardo Corona
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
Expert VB 2005 Business Objects by Rockford Lhotka there is also Expert C# 2005 Business Objects. Can be found at lhotka.net
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He didn't say anything bad about it.
Kevin
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
Byte Magazine & Compute Magazine... Oh, but that was back in the early 80's... ;)
Rocky <>< Recent Blog Post: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS (S5IS Update) Thinking about Silverlight? www.SilverlightCity.com
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
My votes go for the following: "About Face" by Alan Cooper My first edition copy of this looks way outdated now, but the core concepts still ring true. "Inside Visual C++: 5th Edition" by James Kruglinski Taught me everything I needed to get started with MFC, and got me off on the right foot. Kruglinski unfortunately died tragically in a hang-glider accident shortly before the book was released. "XSLT: 2nd Edition" by Michael Kay Excellent to get started, and an excellent reference after you've gotten started Have seen Code Complete a number of times, but never bought it. After reading some of the response here though, perhaps it's time to give it a read. Cheers, Carl
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I know there are many people here who scorn technical books. But I like reading technical books and have always found them useful. I was looking back to see what books had maximum impact in making me a better programmer in my career. I am not just talking about the technology here sure there are many good books about technologies. I am talking about the whole outlook on programming, programming styles and approach. My list is as follows: 1. "The C++ Programming language" - Bjarne Stroustrup. The last part especially had very good insights. I can definitely say that reading that book made me a lot better. 2. "Design Patterns" - GOF. Luckily, I read it (C2C) before shifting jobs and the new job required an application design from scratch. I was able to apply many patterns judiciously and I am still working on the product today. 3. "Code Complete" - Steve McConnell. It should be a required reading everywhere. 4. Refactoring - Martin Fowler. Helped me decide what is refactoring and what not. I overcame many of my pre-dispositions about performance and stressed on code readability. I have read lot of other books, I could clearly see that these books made a great impact on me. So if you have to list books which had the maximum impact on you. What will they be? [Edit] Added Refactoring book.
Proud to be a CPHog user
Good List. I completely agree with #3 - a must read for beginning programmers. A couple of others that I keep going back to again and again: Implementing Lean Software Development - Mary and Tom Poppendieck. Their books are somewhat geared towards managers, but these are a must read for everyone - developers and managers. Who needs waste? Domain Driven Design - Eric Evans. I had a hard time getting through this book and really wasn't convinced of its usefulness at first. However, I find that some of the insights he offers are things I return to on each project. I find myself referring back to this book often at the beginning of new projects. As for people that say everything is available on the internet - I don't think so. Sure you can find technical solutions, but if you want to get into the why and how and best practices of design, I haven't seen these topics covered adequately on internet articles.