61–70 of 106 posts
Thank you for this "Ask HN" ever since I became a parent, the only books I'm able to finish are the ones that are 200 pages or less.
Grokking Simplicity: Taming complex software with functional thinking I’m cheating a bit because this is only under 200 pages because it’s a work in progress. It’s such an easy read, but does a great job at explaining the value of functional programming for building real-world applications without getting bogged down in monads, currying, and complex type systems. Once it’s complete, I’d make it required reading for a…
A Philosophy of Software Design. Very well-written. At 190 pages, quite likely finish-able in a weekend. But if you get 70% of the way through it, that is still very valuable. It makes sense as an underlying set of principles that explain why you would use design patterns.
"This book does not consider functional programming, or the fact that terrible software in modern times is often the result of layers of incorrect abstraction that are often induced by the overuse of "object oriented" (OO) programming techniques. Instead, it takes OO programming for granted as being a good thing (visible in its preferences for two OO languages, C++ and Java), and then it reasons in that domain, making it totally uninteresting to many potential readers. The book also assumes that formal design doesn't work (he calls it "waterfall"), and takes alternatives for granted. I doubt the author is even aware of his inherent bias, but it is incredibly strong."
Does anyone here agree or disagree with these points?
The 22 immutable laws of marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Software is ultimately for humans. Understanding products, marketing and selling help you build better tools for humans and see how products (be it open source, programming languages, retail products, etc) work in the marketplace and not run down paths of "well this is the most popular they must be the best" ... Solid marketing foundations are probably one…
There's a whole series of ebooks by Syncfusion that are exactly what you're describing. Matter fact I think they call them the "Succintly" ebooks series because they tend to introduce a technology or topic in a short 100-200 pages. Check em out here: https://www.syncfusion.com/ebooks
For those of you who claim to start and finish a book in a weekend, are you spending literally the entire weekend doing nothing by reading? Do you take breaks? Do you speed read? Do you take notes? What's your strategy?
I'll say if you are not taking breaks, and notes then you are only wasting your time. A book should be savored. Re-read many times.
I happen to have severe ADHD (rattles atomoxetine bottle, oh look a hummingbird) but managed to read Moby Dick, War and Peace, Grapes of Wrath, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and the TAOCP set.
Doing what is easiest, condensed, or takes the least time isn't necessarily the best path to grow in any meaningful manner. There also bookmarks.
If you must:
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies 192 pp.
War is a Racket 51 pp.
Read a book, and not just CS books or mass-market mental onanism books. And then read another one. Rinse, lather, repeat.
"The Elements of Style", by Strunk & White. 92 pages. For example, page 19: "Put statements in positive form." Code is improved if booleans are put in positive form, such as replace: if (!featureIsDisabled()) ... with: if (hasFeature()) ... You might laugh, but I see the first form all the time. Sometimes I go on a refactoring mission to remove as many negations, nots, and bangs from the code as possible.
"The Elements of Style", by Strunk & White. 92 pages. For example, page 19: "Put statements in positive form." Code is improved if booleans are put in positive form, such as replace: if (!featureIsDisabled()) ... with: if (hasFeature()) ... You might laugh, but I see the first form all the time. Sometimes I go on a refactoring mission to remove as many negations, nots, and bangs from the code as possible.
Ever used a router command line from Cisco, arista etc? Switch on a port with "no shut"