"The Art of Readable Code", by Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher. Simple ways to make code more readable.
Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
151–160 of 344 posts
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#152SQL Performance Explained - Markus Winand
- Excellent book that gets into the internals of what developers need to know about SQL and covers each part as it relates to the 4 major SQL databases (Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL)
- Also has an online version: http://use-the-index-luke.com/sql/table-of-contents
The Code Book - Simon Singh
- It's just a good read that covers cryptography and message hiding throughout history. Probably a solid book for somebody around high school age.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#153Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers. It's a bit hard to wrap your brain around the Java and C++ examples unless you have experience with them, but the techniques are timeless. You may need to practice them extensively before you understand how important they are, though. In a recent book club we did at work, a common complaint was, "This just looks like common sense". Indeed it does... though the…
I just finished reading this book yesterday. I am not an expert in refactoring but the book seems too old, although most advises could be still useful. Anyway, today I found a new book by the author: Brutal Refactoring: More Working Effectively with Legacy Code. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good review of the book on the Internet. But I think it could be more useful.
"the book seems too old"
2004 is old now? Really?
Honestly, good books don't age as long as their core domain stays valid. Structurally C++ is pretty much the same as when the book came out.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#154Some of the most interesting books I've read in support of my software-development work are: * "Compilers: Principles, Techniques, & Tools" by Aho et al. (i.e., "the dragon book") * "Data Flow Analysis: Theory and Practice" by Khedker et al. * "Understanding MySQL Internals" by Sasha Pachev. * "Transaction Processing: Concepts and Techniques" by Gray and Reuter. * "Fundamentals of Wireless Communication" by Tse and V…
> "Understanding MySQL Internals" Why this, as opposed to a more general text on databases? MySQL is popular, but few would accuse it of actually being a good database. I feel like the point at which knowing about the internals of MySQL becomes relevant is probably the point at which you should use a better database.
That's a good point; let me clarify.
It's definitely a good idea to have prior general knowledge of database internals before reading an "internals" book.
I'm not sure if it's out of date, but my favorite book on the topic was "Database System Implementation" by Garcia-Molina et al. I found it to be super-readable.
What I like about the "internals" book is you get to see a real, specific database up close, warts and all. It gives you a different perspective from an overview book like the one mentioned above.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#155Definitely, definitely, Kernighan and Plauger's 1976 book _Software Tools_. The code is in RATFOR (a structured dialect of FORTRAN) but all the ideas are language-independent. It remains, four decades on, the best book I have ever read on how to solve the real problems of real program development. Very practical, and covers a vast amount of ground. (As it happens, I am re-reading it right now.)
There is also an edition using Pascal, "Software Tools in Pascal" from 1981, which might be a little more accessible than the RATFOR edition. I fully agree with the recommendation as such, though.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#156Purely functional data structures by Chris Okasaki
Let Over Lambda forgot by whom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c Not technically a book, but watch it anyway.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#157Purely functional data structures by Chris Okasaki Let Over Lambda forgot by whom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c Not technically a book, but watch it anyway.
> Purely functional data structures by Chris Okasaki
Is that really language agnostic? I don't know how you could follow along with it without knowing some ML or Haskell.
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#158Structure and Interpretation of Computer Program (it's written in scheme but it's mostly for convenience and its lack of syntax). Definitely the best book I've read on programming.
I'd find it quite hard to apply lessons from SCIP using java or c...
It's been "redone" for Python:
http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/sp12/book/
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#159"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.
As someone married to an journalist and now EIC and one who prides himself on concise and solid writing, I really detest this book. It's full of terrible recommendations that the authors themselves don't even follow in their own book. I strongly recommend any English authors stay miles away from it.
If you want this sort of thing, read a well-respected publication's style guide (e.g., from the AP, NYT or Economist).
Re: Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?
#160"Dynamics of Software Development" by Jim McCarthy