Whole language is an approach to, or attitude toward
learning that sees language as a whole entity, and writing, speaking,
reading, and listening should be integrated when learned.
Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
1–10 of 56 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#2"Clean code" is a top contender.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#31. SICP
2. How to Design Programs
3. Software Design for Flexibility: How to Avoid Programming Yourself Into a Corner
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#4If anyone has a good book about writing as simple programs as possible instead of as flexible as possible, I would appriciate it.
Because the problem today is complexity and abstractions. It prevents us from changing code easily, deleting code easily, and understanding the full program flow easily.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#5[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#6If anyone has a good book about writing as simple programs as possible instead of as flexible as possible, I would appriciate it. Because the problem today is complexity and abstractions. It prevents us from changing code easily, deleting code easily, and understanding the full program flow easily.
Totally agree. Premature abstraction is just another way to say premature optimization and it is the root of so many problems. YAGNI (you aint gonna need it).
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#7'Object Oriented Software Construction' - Bertrand Meyer.
Did not agree with everything but it was excellent.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#8If anyone has a good book about writing as simple programs as possible instead of as flexible as possible, I would appriciate it. Because the problem today is complexity and abstractions. It prevents us from changing code easily, deleting code easily, and understanding the full program flow easily.
Totally agree. Premature abstraction is just another way to say premature optimization and it is the root of so many problems. YAGNI (you aint gonna need it).
If that's what your looking for, I find books that are adopted as university textbooks are best. i.e. C Programming Modern Approach by KN King, Object Pascal Handbook by Marco Cantu. Generally I'm staying away from O'Reilly, No Starch Press etc.. They all feel like books created by pasting a bunch of blog posts together. University texts are usually twice the price, but IMHO worth it - they are made for teaching knowledge, not just sharing it.
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#91. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby
2. Practical Common Lisp
3. A Programmer’s Introduction to Mathematics
4. Data Structures and Programming Design in C
5. The Art of Agent Oriented Modeling
Re: Ask HN: What is the best programming book you've read?
#10Effective Java by Joshua Bloch is really good. Some of the learnings only apply to Java, but most apply to any language.
All the tips are very focused on how the code, APIs and even the languages evolve, trying to understand how your changes could confuse other developers. Compared to clean code, it's clear that it's written by someone who has done a lot of coding and seen the evolution, with a very pragmatic approach. Not just theoretical like Clean Code