Thinking Forth
http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/
Teaches you to think simple and elegant.
Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
11–20 of 344 posts
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#12An old standard: The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks.
Eh. I read it but a lot of the particulars of how code is made doesn't really apply anymore.
The concepts and terminology are absolutely invaluable to understand, but you can pick those up other ways.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#13In addition to those already mentioned here, I enjoyed the book 'Algorithms' by Robert Sedgewick & Kevin Wayne.
The algorithms are explained, and demonstrated (in java). But with the knowledge of how the algorithm works you should be able to use them in another language.
(And even though henrik_w already mentioned it, Code Complete2 is a really good book to read!)
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#14Thinking Forth http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/ Teaches you to think simple and elegant.
Thinking Forth is a great suggestion since the approach goes way beyond Forth. I also would read the Brad Cox (objc creator) books if you can get them.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#15Any good book on statistics would be a huge asset, as well as a book about debugging strategies.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#16Though it uses a subset of C++ for the code examples, Elements of Programming by Stepanov and McJones. It shows how algebra can serve as an effective foundation for engineering generic, reusable programs.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#17"The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White. Not exactly a standard programming book. Not really language-agnostic either -- quite English-centric.
I here assume your source code will be read by others; or by yourself after more than three months has passed.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#18"The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White. Not exactly a standard programming book. Not really language-agnostic either -- quite English-centric. I here assume your source code will be read by others; or by yourself after more than three months has passed.
Get the new edition (the old 1930 edition is still sold, but is not the one I'd recommend)
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#19meta advice: read many, some book, even great and famous, don't click at first, read something else that clicks, reread the others later. iterate.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#20Effective Java (lots of good generic OOP advice) Implementing Domain Driven Design
A good books on OOD are "Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby" (http://www.poodr.com) and "99 bottles of OOP"(https://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles/) by Sandy Metz.