Programming from the Ground Up by Jonathan Bartlett.
Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
101–110 of 156 posts
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#102Think Python. http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.html
Can't overstate its usefulness to me. Programming was hard, Think Python made it easy.
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#103Programming books are rarely page turners. I cannot think of one book to add to the (currently empty) list here. I find most programming books to be boring and discursive. Far too many fall into a pattern not too far removed from romance novels where, inevitably, the alpha male hero beds the heroine by chapter three. And if software engineering is considered programming, many of those books seem to be anchored in the…
The average programming book is pretty awful - many seem to be sold by weight. If you skew towards those recently published, there's a very high concentration of instantly obsolete books that cover surface details of the current incarnation of rapidly changing technology. There are real incentives for the programming book publishing industry to churn out tedious garbage: People buy 'em, instant obsolescence means the…
I laughed out loud at the attribution asterisks in _The Art of the Interpreter_. Excellent to see humor in an academic paper.
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#104Programming books are usually a chore for me to read through. I usually lose focus within 10 or so minutes. That said, there are a few exceptions:
* _Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby[1]
* The Tao of Programming[2]
[2]: http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html
Why's guide has enough non-text/geeky humor to keep me reading. And, it's mostly pictures! You're learning, but it doesn't 'feel' like you're learning.
The Tao of Programming flows differently than other books, which blast you with information. Instead of telling you stuff directly, it is anecdotal. Rather than didactic, it's like a parable.
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#105Modern C++ Design by Andrei Alexandrescu
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#106Code Complete by Steve McConnell, and VBA Excel for Dummies. I think the latter was a very well written book, and VBA programming is underrated because for many people it's a good place to start in terms of practical application and it also has the benefit of being an interpreted/scripting language, so you can get instant feedback like in Python. Beats typing main string(args[]) or whatever the hell it is before you even know anything
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#107At first I didn't think I had any, so I did a quick scan of my bookshelves:
_Anatomy of LISP_.
I also did SiCP cover to cover in a few months when it first came out.
_SmallTalk 80: Bits of History, Words of Advice_. Fantastic stuff; reading about making those early 80s processors run ST efficiently is like watching early rocketry.
_The Unix Programming Environment_. This should date me.
_Threaded Interpretive Languages_ (during the FORTH craze of the early 80s). Cured me of FORTH.
Tannenbaum's book on MINIX (bought it the day it came out, had it signed by Tannenbaum at Computer Literacy in San Jose. What a crowd. I miss that store).
That's about it. Of course there are many other computer-related books that I couldn't put down, such as _A Few Good Men from Univac_ and _The Soul of a New Machine_. But these are not about programming.
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#108login to fabebook ilost thepass word
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#109_The Little Schemer_, _The Seasoned Schemer_, _The Little MLer_. Those are made to be burned through, though. Probably not one sitting (many ideas need time to sink in), but only a couple sessions each. More recently, _Land of Lisp_. I already knew much of the material, but a very fun read. (Nice stickers, too!) I'd suggest this as a starting point for people new to Lisp, maybe even before _The Little Schemer_ (!). I…
I definitely agree with the Schemer series. I wouldn't leave off the The Reasoned Schemer, I've been working on that book for over a month now. Better than coffee. Might actually finally understand monads. SICP is astounding. Thoroughly worked through the first three chapters years ago. I'm constantly revisiting the later chapters. I haven't worked through CTMCP, but that book is written in a lovely, compelling style…
To understand monads in a context where they are both useful and necessary (Haskell) I highly recommend the later chapters of Learn You a Haskell for Great Good (http://learnyouahaskell.com/). I'd read through all the different analogies (burritos, space suits, etc) and it didn't click until LYAHFGG showed how they are a logical way of attaching some extra context to a bit of data (or more generally a computation).
Re: Which programming book you just couldn’t stop reading from start to end?
#110I agree with many of the mentions (Little Schemer is almost omnipresent), but would like to add a newer book: Growing Object Oriented Software Guided by Tests. The title may mislead one to think the book is a dry repetition of the same-old "OO principles", but it isn' so. The meat of the book is a step-by-step description of the development (through TDD) of a largish application; and somehow they managed to make the whole thing interesting. I wish more books would take on a large development endeavor in a narrative way.
edit: grammar