If you could go back in time and tell yourself to read a specific book at the beginning of your career as a developer, which book would it be?
I expect this list to be varied and to cover a wide range of things.
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Programming from the ground up. It's free on the internet. This book taught me AT&T asm. It is very easy to read.
Database System Concepts is one of the best books you can read on understanding good database design principles.
Types and Programming Languages by Benjamin C Pierce for a thorough understanding of the underpinnings of programming languages.
The practice of programming. By Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike.
The style shown here is excellent - the code just speaks for itself, and the whole book follows the KISS principle. Personally not my languages of choice, but still influential to me.
Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck. While I don't advocate a hardcore XP-or-the-highway take on software development, I wish I had been introduced to the principles in this book much earlier in my career. Unit testing, refactoring, simplicity, continuous integration, cost/time/quality/scope - these changed the way I looked at development. Before Agile, it was all about the debugger and fear of change requests. After Agile, those demons did not loom as large.
Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming.
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One of my personal favorites is Hacker's Delight, because it was as much fun to read as it was educational.
I hope the second edition will be released soon!
Definitively Software Craftsmanship
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This book explains a lot of things about software engineering, system development. It's also extremly useful to understand the difference between different kind of product developement: web VS shrinkwrap VS IBM framework. What people had in mind when they conceived waterfall model? Read this and all we'll become clear (hopefully)
Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail. Get it used cheap. But you might not get the humor until you've worked on a few failed projects.
The beauty of the book is the copyright year.
Probably the most profound takeaway "law" presented in the book:
The Fundamental Failure-Mode Theorem (F.F.T.): Complex systems usually operate in failure mode.
The idea being that there are failing parts in any given piece of software that are masked by failures in other parts or by validations in other parts. See a real-world example at the Therac-25 radiation machine, whose software flaws were masked by hardware failsafes. When the hardware failsafes were removed, the software race condition that had gone undetected all those years resulted in the machine killing 3 people.
Discrete Mathematics For Computer Scientists by J.K. Truss.
While this doesn't teach you programming, it teaches you fundamental mathematics that every programmer should know. You may remember this stuff from university, but really, doing predicate logic will improve you programming skills, you need to learn Set Theory if you want to program using collections.
There really is a lot of interesting information in here that can get you thinking about problems in different ways. It's handy to have, just to pick up once in a while to learn something new.
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp by Peter Norvig
I started reading it because I wanted to learn Common Lisp. When I was halfway, I realized this was the greatest book about programming I had read so far.
@Juan: I know Juan, I know - but there are some things that can only be learned by actually getting down to the task at hand. Speaking in abstract ideals all day simply makes you into an academic. It's in the application of the abstract that we truly grok the reason for their existence. :P
@Keith: Great mention of "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" by Alan Cooper - an eye opener for certain, any developer that has worked with me since I read that book has heard me mention the ideas it espouses. +1
The Python language was very influential to me, I wish I would have read these book years ago. The beauty and simplicity of the Python language really affected how I wrote code in other languages.
The Practice of Programming
and
How to solve it by computer
Really good book. Has a high-level taste of the most important areas of computer science. Yes, CS != programming, but this is still useful to every programmer.
hackers, by Steven Levy.
The personality and way of life must come first. Everything else can be learned.
This last year I took a number of classes. I read
The Innovator's Dilemma (disruptive tech)
The Mythical Man Month (managing software)
Crossing the Chasm (startup)
Database Management Systems, The COW Book
Programming C#, The OSTRICH Book
Beginning iPhone Developmen, The GRAPEFRUIT Book
Each book was amazing but the Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (1997!!!) is really a fantastic book, and it got me really thinking about the modern software world. The challenge addressed is disruptive technology, and how disk drive companies and non-technical companies are always disrupted by new, game changing technology. It gives one a new perspective when thinking about Google, probably the biggest 'web' company. Why do they have their hands in EVERYTHING? It's because they don't want to have their position disrupted by something new. The preview on google is plenty to get the idea. Read it!
"The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman.
Excellence in programming demands an investment of mental energy and a dedication to continued learning comparable to the professions of medicine or law. It pays a fraction of what those professions pay, much less the wages paid to the mathematically savvy who head into the finance sector. And wages for constructing code are eroding because it's a profession that is relatively easy for the intelligent and self-disciplined in most economies to enter.
Programming has already eroded to the point of paying less than, say, plumbing. Plumbing can't be "offshored." You don't need to pay $2395 to attend the Professional Plumber's Conference every other year for the privilege of receiving an entirely new set of plumbing technologies that will take you a year to learn.
If you live in North America or Europe, are young, and are smart, programming is not a rational career choice. Businesses that involve programming, absolutely. Study business, know enough about programming to refine your BS detector: brilliant. But dedicating the lion's share of your mental energy to the mastery of libraries, data structures, and algorithms? That only makes sense if programming is something more to you than an economic choice.
If you love programming and for that reason intend to make it your career, then it behooves you to develop a cold-eyed understanding of the forces that are, and will continue, to make it a harder and harder profession in which to make a living. "The World is Flat" won't teach you what to name your variables, but it will immerse you for 6 or 8 hours in economic realities that have already arrived. If you can read it, and not get scared, then go out and buy "Code Complete."
@Peter Coulton -- you don't read Knuth, you study it.
For me, and my work... Purely Functional Data Structures is great for thinking and developing with functional languages in mind.
The TCP/IP Guide, by Charles M. Kozierok
Although it is described as an 'encyclopedic reference', it is incredibly readable as a narrative.
This author provides a very , very, very well written, comprehensive, introduction to networking and the infrastructure that underlies the web. Something all programmers ought to know.
For me it is the natural follow-on from Charles Petzold's 'Code'. If "Code" explains to the layman how computers work, 'The TCP/IP Guide' explains how they connect together.
If you gave a 12 year old geek a copy 'Code' and a copy of 'The TCP/IP Guide' - they'd be building the next Google by the age of 17.
In other words, if I could go back in time and tell myself to read a specific book at the beginning of my career as a developer, this (plus Code) is up there in the top of my list.
Kernighan & Plauger's Elements of Programming Style. It illustrates the difference between gimmicky-clever and elegant-clever.
Here's an excellent book that is not as widely applauded, but is full of deep insight: Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game, by Alistair Cockburn.
What's so special about it? Well, clearly everyone has heard the term "Agile", and it seems most are believers these days. Whether you believe or not, though, there are some deep principles behind why the Agile movement exists. This book uncovers and articulates these principles in a precise, scientific way. Some of the principles are (btw, these are my words, not Alistair's):
There is so much more in there too. I'll shut up now, but I HIGHLY recommend this book!
Masters of doom. As far as motivation and love for your profession go: it won't get any better than what's been described in this book, truthfully inspiring story!
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C++ How to Program It is good for beginner.This is excellent book that full complete with 1500 pages.
Martin Fowler's Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code has already been listed. But I will detail why it has impacted me.
The essence of the whole book is about structuring code so that it is simpler to read and understand by humans. It teaches me strongly that the code that I write is meant for my colleagues and successors to consume and possibly learn something good out of it. It inspires me to consciously program in a manner that leaves people praising my name, and not cursing me to damnation for all eternity.
Code Craft by Pete Goodliffe is a good read!
While I agree that many of the books above are must-reads (Pragmatic Programmer, Mythical Man-Month, Art of Computer Programming, and SICP come to mind immediately), I'd like to go in a slightly different direction and recommend A Discipline of Programming by Edsger Dijkstra. Even though it's 32 years old, the emphasis on "design for verifiability" is highly relevant (even if "verifiability" means "proof" instead "unit tests").
I think that "The Art of Unix Programming" is an excellent book, by an excellent hacker/brilliant mind as Eric S. Raymond, who tries to make us understand a few principles of software design (simplicity mainly). This book is a must for every programming who is about to start a project under Unix platform.
The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
"The Practice of programming" by Brian W.Kerninghan & Rob Pike.
The language is easy and also the subject matter is interesting.
As I started out developing in Java (and am still doing so to this very day) I'd have to recommend the outstanding work in the field: Mr Bunny's Big Cup o' Java.
From the author's blurb:
There is simply no better way to learn Java than to have the pineal gland of an expert Java programmer surgically implanted in your brain. Sadly, most HMOs refuse to pay for this career saving procedure, deeming Java to be too experimental. At last there is an alternative treatment for those of us who cannot wait for sweeping health care reforms.
Mr. Bunny’s Big Cup O’ Java is recommended by n out of ten doctors, where n is any integer you wish to make up to impress an astoundingly gullible public. The book begins with an overview of the book, and quickly expands into the book itself. Just look at the topics covered:
- Java
In short, MBBCOJ will teach you all you need to know for a successful career in today’s rabbit development environments.
The insight into pixels alone would have cut years off my software developing life.
Rapid Development by McConnell
Do users ever touch your code? If you're not doing solely back-end work, I recommend About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design — now in its third edition (linked). I used to think my users were stupid because they didn't "get" my interfaces. I was, of course, wrong. About Face turned me around.
I have a few good books that strongly influenced me that I've not seen on this list so far:
The Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald Norman. The general principles of design for other people. This may seem to be mostly good for UI but if you think about it, it has applications almost anywhere there is an interface that someone besides the original developer has to work with; e. g. an API and designing the interface in such a way that other developers form the correct mental model and get appropriate feedback from the API itself.
The Art of Software Testing by Glen Myers. A good, general introduction to testing software; good for programmers to read to help them think like a tester i. e. think of what may go wrong and prepare for it.
By the way, I realize the question was the "Single Most Influential Book" but the discussion seems to have changed to listing good books for developers to read so I hope I can be forgiven for listing two good books rather than just one.
In no particular order except how they're arranged on my bookshelf:
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master without a doubt. The advice in it is so well presented, and simple, that it comes across as if it was 'The Common Sense Programmer'. Love it.
I've been arounda while, so most books that I have found influential don't necessarily apply today. I do believe it is universally important to understand the platform that you are developing for (both hardware and OS). I also think it's important to learn from other peoples mistakes. So two books I would recommend are:
Computing Calamities and In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters
Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML
An excellent read for those looking to leverage ORM and UML
The Back of the Napkin, by Dan Roam.
The Back of the Napkin http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/bestsellers-2008/302-7.jpg
A great book about visual thinking techniques. There is also an expanded edition now. I can't speak to that version, as I do not own it; yet.
Design Concepts in Programming Languages by FA Turbak produces detailed implementations of many programming concepts and is very useful for understanding what's going on underneath the hood.
Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing
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Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing by Gerald M. Weinberg
ISBN-10: 0932633692
ISBN-13: 978-0932633699
Not the most influential, but worth a look is Youth by J.M.Coetzee.
The narrator of Youth, a student in the South Africa of the 1950s, has long been plotting an escape from his native country: from the stifling love of his mother, from a father whose failures haunt him, and from what he is sure is impending revolution. Studying mathematics, reading poetry, saving money, he tries to ensure that when he arrives in the real world, wherever that may be, he will be prepared to experience life to its full intensity, and transform it into art. Arriving at last in London, however, he finds neither poetry nor romance. Instead he succumbs to the monotony of life as a computer programmer, from which random, loveless affairs offer no relief. Devoid of inspiration, he stops writing. An awkward colonial, a constitutional outsider, he begins a dark pilgrimage in which he is continually tested and continually found wanting.
youth cover http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5140/youthgd4.jpg
Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert L. Glass is a really excellent book. I had been a professional hacker for almost 10 years before I read it, and a I still learned a ton of stuff.
Software Tools by by Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger
It had a profound influence on how I write software.
This one isnt really a book for the beginning programmer, but if you're looking for SOA design books, then SOA in Practice: The Art of Distributed System Design is for you.
There are a lot of votes for Steve McConnell's Code Complete, but what about his Software Project Survival Guide book? I think they're both required reading but for different reasons.
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard
It's about about what mindsets are required to reach mastery in any skill, and why. It's just awesome, and an easy read too.
My vote is "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning With Python" It's available both as a book and as a free e-book.
It really helped me to understand the basics of not just Python but programming in general. Although it uses Python to demonstrate concepts, they apply to most, if not all, programming languages. Also: IT'S FREE!
How influential a book is often depends on the reader and where they were in their career when they read the book. I have to give a shout-out to Head First Design Patterns. Great book and the very creative way it's written should be used as an example for other tech book writers. I.e. it's written in order to facilitate learning and internalizing the concepts.
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Adding to the great ones mentioned above:
Three books come to mind for me.
I also love the writing of Paul Graham.
Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by W. Richard Stevens.
Nobody seems to have mentioned Stroustup's The C++ Programming Language which is a great book that every C++ programmer should read.
I also think that Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change should be read by every programmer and manager. Many of the ideas in the book are common knowledge now but the book gives an intelligent and inspiring account of the pursuit of quality in software engineering.
I would second the recommendations for Knuth and Gang of Four which are classics.
Object-Oriented Software Construction by Bertrand Meyer
Effective C++ and More Effective C++ by Scott Myers.
Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck is definitely one for every developers bookshelf
Debugging the Development Process: Practical Strategies for Staying Focused, Hitting Ship Dates, and Building Solid Teams by Steve Maguire.
No-non-sense, down-to-earth, entertaining, profound.
I recently read Dreaming in Code and found it to be an interesting read. Perhaps more so since the day I started reading it Chandler 1.0 was released. Reading about the growing pains and mistakes of a project team of talented people trying to "change the world" gives you a lot to learn from. Also Scott brings up a lot of programmer lore and wisdom in between that's just an entertaining read.
Beautiful Code had one or two things that made me think differently, particularly the chapter on top down operator precedence.
Code Complete is the number one choice, but I'd also cite Gang of Four's Design Patterns and Craig Larman's Applying UML and Patterns.
The Timeless Way of Building, by Christopher Alexander, is another great one. Even though it's about archtecture, it's included in the bibliography of many great programming books I have already read.
Another one, from which I'm learning lots of new things, is Data Access Patterns, by Clifton Nock.
Advanced Programming in the UNIX environment - W. Richard Stevens
Peter Norton's Assembly Language Book for the IBM PC
I had spent countless nights in front of the pc (DOS), exploring unknown worlds :-D
Since I'm a C# programmer and most generic books already has been mentioned I'd like to recommend Bill Wagner's book "More Effective C#.
I think most people that develop composite WPF-applications also should have a look at Microsoft's Composite Application Guidance (also known as Prism):
All the Thinking in... books.
Bruce Eckel is THE genious of pedagogy! It's so easy to understand the implementation of polymorphism in C++. It contains all that you should known about C++, basic and advanced concepts. Way better than the Stroustrup's. I learnt Java with him too.
And last but not the least:
The C++ one is free !
I read most of the books having an high score on this question - but not all of them (thanks God !) and I added the others one to my Amazon Wish List right away !
(Someone should create a list on Amazon for these books... Maybe a list named : "Stackoverflow best books ever" ? Anyone know how to do that ?)
To me, the best book ever has been Code Complete. It was a revelation. I bought the 2nd edition in english and then in French and I still think it should be a mandatory reading in any computer science school. Data structure is cool but Code complete, no joke, is much more important...
Then, my second best book was Writing Solid Code - having learn how to be understood, it was great to know how to write solid code.
Then a lot of very nice books but no one to mention here. Until 2001, I think : Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries. A jewel ! I read this book many times and it's still on my desk, just beside my LCD, along with Code Complete (really !). I Love the way it has been written (love the comment that has been added here and there - books should all be written like that !)
But well, I forget the very first great books I've read ! The ones who make me love computer science, with passion :
Well, excellent question :o)
For me it was Design Patterns Explained it provided an 'Oh that's how it works' moment for me in regards to design patterns and has been very useful when teaching design patterns to others.
Applying UML and Patterns by Craig Larman.
The title of the book is slightly misleading; it does deal with UML and patterns, but it covers so much more. The subtitle of the book tells you a bit more: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development.
A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink. Interesting take on the future of our industry.
I assume most of the folks reading this will have read the books at the top of the list already. So, i'll offer a book that takes a different look at our industry.
I am surprised there is no mention yet of this book: Starting Forth, by Leo Brodie. After all Forth, being a stack-based language, should fit the audience on this site...
Admittedly, Forth is a weird language and not very popular these days. But this book is a joy to read. And it has cartoons! The book, as well as Brodie's other book, Thinking Forth, are both available free on the web.
Whether you are coding in Smalltalk or not Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns is a great read. Full of small observations that will change the way you code; for the better.
The most influential programming book for me was Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot by Allen Holub.
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O, well, how long ago it was.
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Took my programing to a whole new level.
The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike.
More than any other book, it taught me the benefits in building small, easily-tested tools that can be combined to do big things.
This one started me off into true OOA&D.
Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development - Craig Larman
These would be up there as well:
Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass
I think code complete is going to be a hugely popular one for this question, for me it corrected many of my bad habits and re-affirmed my good practices.
Also for my Perl background I really like Perl Best Practices from Damian Conway. Perl can be a nasty language if you don't use style and best practices, which is what I was seeing in the scripts I was reading ( and sometimes writing ) .
I like the Head First Series, they are quite good and easy to read when your are not in the mood for more serious style books.
It's not strictly a development book and I believe that I've mentioned it in another answer somewhere but it's a book I really believe all developers should read, from php to Java to assembly developers.
It really brings together what's under the hood in a computer, why memory shouldn't be wasted and some of the more interesting parts of the history of computing. It's an introduction to the computer and what it is. It gave me my ultimate passion for low level programming and helped me understand pointers and memory more than any other computer.
to get advanced in prolog i like these two books:
really opens the mind for logic programming and recursion schemes.
This isn't a direct answer to the question, because I feel it's already been answered above, however, one of the books that definitely had an impact on how I code is Code Reading, Volume 1: The Open Source Perspective.
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In the beginning was the command line. Neal Stephenson.
97 Things Every Programmer Should Know
This book pools together the collective experiences of some of the world's best programmers. It is a must read.
What Every Programmer Should Know About Memory
by Ulrich Drepper - explains the structure of modern memory subsystems and suggests how to utilize them efficiently.
PS: Sorry If I am double posting.
What happened to 'Expert C Programming - Deep C Secrets' by Peter Van Der Linden - a classical and enjoyable read. Should have read that immediately after learning C years ago but got it about after 3 years into learning C! A recommended book which answers the most common SO questions on pointers (a favourite subject of mine). Live it, eat it, breathe it! 10/10!
Domain Driven Design By Eric Evans is a wonderful book!
Solid Code Optimizing the Software Development Life Cycle
Although the book is only 300 pages and favors Microsoft technologies it still offers some good language agnostic tidbits.
I'm reading now Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns and Practices. For those interested in XP and Object-Oriented Design, this is a classic reading.
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I saw a review of Software Factories: Assembling Applications with Patterns, Models, Frameworks, and Tools on a blog talking also about XI-Factory, I read it and I must say this book is a must read. Altough not specifically targetted to programmers, it explains very clearly what is happening in the programming world right now with Model-Driven Architecture and so on..
I would say that "Beyond Code - Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps" is quite a good and motivational book. I doesn't cover technical issues, but it describes ways of working with people, being professional, ... For me, this is a book you can read again and again if you are in need of some pep talk. Besides that, it is cheap and very easy and enjoyable to read in 3 to 4 hours.
There is a little review over at my blog.
for low level entertainment i would suggest Michael Abrash's
i) -Zen of Code Optimization- and
ii) -Graphics Programming Black Book-
even if you dont do any graphics programming.
Craig Larman's Applying UML and Patterns. While the Gang of Four book Design Patterns is very instructive, I found that I didn't "get" how to use design patterns until I ran across Larman's book in a programming class.
As so many people have listed Head First Design Patterns, which I agree is a very good book, I would like to see if so many people aware of a title called Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design.
This title deals with design patterns excellently. The first half of the book is very accessible and the remaining chapters require only a firm grasp of the content already covered The reason I feel the second half of the book is less accessible is that it covers patterns that I, as a young developer admittedly lacking in experience, have not used much.
This title also introduces the concept behind design patterns, covering Christopher Alexander's initial work in architecture to the GoF first implementing documenting patterns in SmallTalk.
I think that anyone who enjoyed Head First Design Patterns but still finds the GoF very dry, should look into Design Patterns Explained as a much more readable (although not quite as comprehensive) alternative.
Another book that has not been mentioned yet, and SHOULD be required reading for EVERY programmer, newbies on up to gurus, in ANY programming language, is Michael Howard's Writing Secure Code (2nd Edition) from MSPress.
Separately, I'd mention The Third Manifesto by Hugh Darwen and CJ Date. If you're interested in understanding data (which seems uncommon among programmers) this book is a must-read. It will also make you sad when you realize just how badly broken SQL is, but it'll also help you cope with that brokenness. Knowing how a tool is broken lets you design with those deficits in mind.
This might not count as a "development book" but I have to throw it in anyway: Hackers by Stephen Levy. I found that it spoke to the emotional side of programming.
The question is, "What book really made an impact of how you work as a developer?" Without any doubt, Programming Windows with MFC, by Jeff Prosise, is the book that had the greatest impact on HOW I work as a developer. It did not teach me the fundamentals of "programming" but it opened the world of Windows platform development to me and many thousands of other developers.
I had written a little Windows code previously in the "Petzold style" before MFC was developed. I quickly decided the Windows platform we just not worth the trouble as a developer. When Prosise came out with his MFC book, I realized (along with thousands of other non-Windows programmers) that I could create an easy to use interface that users would not just understand, but actually enjoy using. I devoured the book, making so many notes in it and turning down so many corners, I eventually bought a second copy.
Prosise, Jeff. Programming Windows with MFC 2nd Ed. Microsoft Press 1999 ISBN: 1-57231-695-0
My high school math teacher lent me a copy of Are Your Lights Figure Problem that I have re-read many times. It has been invaluable, as a developer, and in life generally.
Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets by Peter Van Der Linden
While not strictly a software development book, I would highly recommend that Don't Make me Think! be considered in this list.
"The Design and Evolution of C++" by Bjarne Stroustrup
Besides giving much background on C++, it is also a lengthy study on the trade-offs and design concerns involved in a large scale program.
I suppose we could ask the same top rated question every couple of weeks and upmod all those who mention code complete or The Pragmatic Programmer.
Not that there is anythng wrong with it :-)
It's a toss up between Head First Design Patterns, for many of the reasons cited above, and Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook, which should be one of the bibles for any Perl programmer wanting to write maintainable code.
Roger S. Pressman - Software Engineering (A Practitioners Approach). It has got a lot of usefull information.
I think I grew up in a different generation than most here....
One of the most influential books I read, was APUE.
Or pretty much anything by W. Richard Stevens.
I'm a big fan of most titles by Robert C. Martin, especially Agile Software Development, Principles, and Practices and Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship.
Read Head First Design Patterns for a much more accessible introduction than the GoF book. I remember feeling like I'd leveled up after each chapter.
Kent Beck's Test Driven Development by Example for TDD.
Working Effectively with Legacy Code is a really amazing book that goes into great detail about how to properly unit test your code and what the true benefit of it is. It really opened my eyes.
OK, so the question is not "what's the best programming book", but "if you could tell yourself what to read in the beginning of your career"...
Probably one of "On Lisp" and SICP, plus one of CLRS or "Algorithms: a creative approach" by Udi Manber.
Introduction to Algorithms by Udi Manber http://vig-fp.prenhall.com/bigcovers/0201120372.jpg
The first two will teach lots of programming techniques, patterns, and really open up one's mind to his/her own creativity; the other two are different. They're more theoretical, but also very important, focusing on design of correct and efficient algorithms (and requiring substantially more math).
I see lots of people recommending the three first books when the subject of "good programming books" pops up, but the last one (by Manber) is a great book, and few people know it. It's a shame! Manber focuses on the incremental development of algorithms through theorem proving using induction.
Anything by Edward Tufte: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information; Envisioning Information; Visual Explanations
recommended for Windows Programmer, Programming Windows
I found the The Algorithm Design Manual to be a very beneficial read. I also highly recommend Programming Pearls.
Even though I had been programming rofessionally for years, Rocky Lhotka's "Business Objects" series about his CSLA framework was the book that opened my eyes.
His ideas he got me excited about software development patterns and theory again. It set me on the path of a new interest in learning how to be a better developer, and not just learning about the latest gee-whiz control or library. (Don't get me wrong, I still love a good technical book too - you gotta keep up!)
If you are doing anything in Unix/Linux/MacOS etc, you must read Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment (also known by the acronym APUE), by the late W Richard Stevens. If you don't know how file descriptors work or what sessions are, or all the things you should do when you daemonize yourself (admit it, you don't), then this book will tell you.
You'll feel amatuerish for a bit afterwards, but if you want to consider yourself a professional programmer (in any language) in the Unix environment you need to read this.
The first book that made a real impact on me was Mastering Turbo Assembler by Tom Swan.
Other books that have had an impact was Just For Fun by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond and of course The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas.
In recent years it has been 'The C++ Standard Library' by 'Nicolai M. Josuttis'. It's my bible.
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The Pragmatic programmer was pretty good. However one that really made an impact when I was starting out was :
Windows 95 System Programming Secrets"
I know - it sounds and looks a bit cheesy on the outside and has probably dated a bit - but this was an awesome explanation of the internals of Win95 based on the Authors (Matt Pietrek) investigations using his own own tools - the code for which came with the book. Bear in mind this was before the whole open source thing and Microsoft was still pretty cagey about releasing documentation of internals - let alone source. There was some quote in there like "If you are working through some problem and hit some sticking point then you need to stop and really look deeply into that piece and really understand how it works". I've found this to be pretty good advice - particularly these days when you often have the source for a library and can go take a look. Its also inspired me to enjoy diving into the internals of how systems work, something that has proven invaluable over the course of my career.
Oh and I'd also throw in effective .net - great internals explanation of .Net from Don Box.
Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle.
I used this book as the starting point to understanding Agile development.
How to think like a computer scientist: learning with python
May not be the most advanced book on the world but it made me understand programming concepts that I couldn't, especially object oriented topics.
Donald Norman, 'The Design of Everyday Things'
Not about programming, per se, but about how things in the world should work -- kind of the psychology of usability.
It's been invaluable for me in designing both end-user interfaces and APIs.
The Productive Programmer by Ford
I'm not quite through this one yet, but I'm already thrilled by some of the tips/tricks I've picked up to become more...well...productive.
Sure, there's plenty of the stuff we all already know (use the keyboard shortcuts, DRY, etc). But there's plenty of new stuff to go with it. And careful readers will quickly start to see how things can be combined for even greater effect.
Literate Programming by Donald Knuth, it's a great book on code structure.
Inside the C++ Object Model by Stan Lippman. It made C++ finally "click" for me, before it was all "magic". This book gave me a different frame of mind when approaching a new programming language.
Software Tools by Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger by a wide margin had the most effect on me.
Learning C# 2005, by Jesse Liberty & Brian MacDonald (O'Reilly).
ISBN 10: 0-596-10209-7.
When I first made the jump from ASP classic procedural code to object-oriented C# code in VS2005, this book set me on the right path.
"Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications" by Grady Booch. I read this a long time ago and it showed me that there could be a methodology to developing Object Oriented Software. Since then many other books have had an impact on me but this one got me started.
Here are two I haven't seen mentioned:
I wish I had read "Ruminations on C++" by Koenig and Moo much sooner. That was the book that made OO concepts really click for me.
And I recommend Michael Abrash's "Zen of Code Optimization" for anyone else planning on starting a programming career in the mid 90s.
Pro Spring is a superb introduction to the world of Inversion of Control and Dependency Injection. If you're not aware of these practices and their implications - the balance of topics and technical detail in Pro Spring is excellent. It builds a great case and consequent personal foundation.
Another book I'd suggest would be Robert Martin's Agile Software Development (ASD). Code smells, agile techniques, test driven dev, principles ... a well-written balance of many different programming facets.
More traditional classics would include the infamous GoF Design Patterns, Bertrand Meyer's Object Oriented Software Construction, Booch's Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Scott Meyer's "Effective C++'" series and a lesser known book I enjoyed by Gunderloy, Coder to Developer.
And while books are nice ... don't forget radio!
... let me add one more thing. If you haven't already discovered safari - take a look. It is more addictive than stack overflow :-) I've found that with my google type habits - I need the more expensive subscription so I can look at any book at any time - but I'd recommend the trial to anyone even remotely interested.
(ah yes, a little obj-C today, cocoa tomorrow, patterns? soa? what was that example in that cookbook? What did Steve say in the second edition? Should I buy this book? ... a subscription like this is great if you'd like some continuity and context to what you're googling ...)
Code is Law - you are doing all this writing, editing, and thinking in [language of your choice] but WHY? What does you code MEAN? What will does it actually DO?
(I could have recommended a book on QA, but I didn't...)
Deitel and Deitel, "C++: How to Program"
XUnit Test Patterns
Implementation Patterns by Kent Beck.
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You can learn how to communicate people with programming.
When I first started programming in a OOP languages, I found this book not only to be a comprehensive book about C++ and MFC, it was also has one of the best explanations of Object Oriented concepts I've seen.
When I talk to developers who are just starting out programming in an object oriented language, I tell them to read this book.
Beginning C# 3.0: An Introduction to Object Oriented Programming
This is the book for those who want to understand the whys and hows of OOP using C# 3.0. You don't want to miss it.
Object-Oriented Programming in Turbo C++. Not super popular, but it was the one that got me started, and was the first book that really helped me grok what an object was. Read this one waaaay back in high school. It sort of brings a tear to my eye...
The Algorithms book from Robert Sedgewick. A must-read for application developers.
Comes in many flavours (C, C++, Java)
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