What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
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Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#2The funny part is the first page is all development books, my recommendation would be one on the business of software development or on usability design. Developers are naturally going to run across the information in those books if they are interested. Understanding business or users is one of the things that separates a good programmer from a great developer. Unless you are going into some pretty hardcore space, read about the parts of software development that you don't like, because the stuff that should be in a CS classroom will be picked up along the way if you like what you do. Read a book on QA or SCM, you will be the better for it.
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#3I'm a little surprised by the results. Why would a tome on C be the most influential book that every programmer should read?
I would think that before any of these books I would prefer that someone I was working with or hiring had read something like "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or a book on writing effectively, instead of any of the books on the first two pages.
My reasoning is that the most common problem I find with other programmers is not their programming skills, but their communication of interpersonal skills.
Edit: Aha! "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is on page 5 with 74 points!
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#4"Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us" by Robert Hare. If only I understood more about how many corporate executives and venture capitalists think about things and regard others earlier in my career, it would have saved a lot of grief. Now that I understand this disorder and how it works, I am able to avoid distasteful and frustrating scenarios and get much more done.
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#5Like others, I wish I had read "The C Programming Language" earlier than when I did (probably did not get to it until my mid-20's or so). However, I am really glad I read "The Road Ahead" by Bill Gates while still in high school. That gave me a "vision for the future". So in terms of "what influenced me the most" starting out, it was definitely that.
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#6The Mythical Man-Month
As always. Considering we are making great software, but a lot of projects still seem to go over the estimated time....then I guess learning about that is what will bring us ahead.
Also this talk by Greg Wilson: http://vimeo.com/9270320
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#7I've seen so many lists like this and they always list the same books... Code Complete, Prag Prog, SICP, Design Patterns, Refactoring, etc...
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#8I'm a little surprised by the results. Why would a tome on C be the most influential book that every programmer should read? I would think that before any of these books I would prefer that someone I was working with or hiring had read something like "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or a book on writing effectively, instead of any of the books on the first two pages. My reasoning is that the most common prob…
It's not just a great C book, it's a great book. The writing is extremely clear and concise, and packs an incredible amount of information into a few short pages (short by comparison with the "doorstop" books that seem to be in vogue).
People associated with writing technical documentation of any kind could learn a lot from it.
You won't find many programming books from 1988 that are still relevant and on the market -- the only exception that comes to mind is SICP, which also has a very high rank.
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#9Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig
http://www.free-culture.cc/
Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
#10Wow there were a lot of bad suggestions in that thread. I was just waiting for 'C Programming for Dummies' to pop up posted by E. Trollguy.
If you work in an object oriented language, I think one of the most useful books you could read would be Kent Beck's Smalltalk Best Practise Patterns. The reason being that the lessons and tricks Kent discusses in his book can be applied to Ruby, Python, Java, C#, C++, Delphi, and any other language that I insultingly forgot, where you are working with objects and polymorphism.
But it certainly wouldn't be useful for _every_ programmer to read. Those would be much more abstract like the already listed ones (mythical man month, sicp, code complete, gof, pragmatic programmer)