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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?

#12

Post by jasonlotito »

Recently, I've come to know "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software"[1], and I really enjoyed it. I don't think it's necessarily the first book every programmer should read, but I do think it's a book every programmer should read. It's an easy read, it's fun, and really does provide what it promises. Highly recommended.

1. http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softwa...

Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

#13

Post by famousactress »

Man, still Code Complete? I dunno. Wasn't that big a fan, honestly. I think I got more out of the first three chapters than the sum of the rest of the book.

If we're talking about technical books, Refactoring is easily the most beneficial read I can remember having. I was pleased to see it (barely) trump Design Patterns... a book that I think (through no real fault of it's own) has spoiled more developer-years than it's benefitted.

Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

#14

Post by tryitnow »

simonsarris wrote: post #3

I'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…

That's a good point. Interestingly, it also shows the weakness of the English language as a technique for expressing an idea.

I think there's an unwritten condition in the question:

"What is the single most influential [explicitly programming related] book every programmer should read?"

My guess is that is how most people interpreted the question. Of course, there's no explicit reason to interpret it this way. This just highlights the weakness of human language (that is on a standalone basis, using context human language is probably very powerful).

Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

#15

Post by famousactress »

jasonlotito wrote: post #12

Recently, I've come to know "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software"[1], and I really enjoyed it. I don't think it's necessarily the first book every programmer should read, but I do think it's a book every programmer should read. It's an easy read, it's fun, and really does provide what it promises. Highly recommended. 1. http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softwa...

I really enjoyed it. Being self-taught, it provided a really handy primer and computer-architecture fundamentals, logic gates, etc. that I imagine I'd have otherwise gotten in school.

Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

#18

Post by lawnchair_larry »

famousactress wrote: post #13

Man, still Code Complete? I dunno. Wasn't that big a fan, honestly. I think I got more out of the first three chapters than the sum of the rest of the book. If we're talking about technical books, Refactoring is easily the most beneficial read I can remember having. I was pleased to see it (barely) trump Design Patterns... a book that I think (through no real fault of it's own) has spoiled more developer-years than i…

Haha, I clicked the HN headline thinking "I am going to see the top answer as Code Complete and then be annoyed again".

Softies are overrepresented on stackoverflow.

Edit: Oh, no wonder. This is a very old repost.

Re: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

#19

Post by feral »

I'm not sure that all those people on Stackexchange have read the question properly.

The question is "What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?" I.e. given the set of books that every programmer should read, which one is the single most influential?

As a programmer, lets consider the answer to the question, as parsed logically (regardless of intent).

Typing 'most influential books' into Google brings me to this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Most_Influential_Books_...

It turns out its just one persons opinion - but pageranked to the top for 'most influential books'; and notable enough for wikipedia - thats good enough crowd-vetting for my purposes.

If I knew which books all programmers should read, it'd now be a simple matter of finding the highest ranked; but here, I have to use my judgement.

So I suggest:

Number 13, Euclid's Elements

Number 32, Machiavelli's The Prince

Number 93, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

I'm not sure every programmer should read Elements - maybe, but its a little abstract these days.

I think The Prince would be good reading for the softer skills of the programming profession - and genuinely has really influenced management thinking; its short, so probably worth everyone's time.

Finally, I believe without a doubt, 1984 should certainly be required reading for all programmers - a single read is worth a great many 'ethics for technologists' courses.

There are other candidates on that list too, but I don't think there's anything that I'm as certain all programmers should read as 1984.

Any differing opinions?

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