Not a book, but check [Build your own X]( https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x ), a compilation of well-written, step-by-step guides for re-creating our favorite technologies from scratch.
It was better when Daniel maintained it.
Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
81–90 of 204 posts
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#82Software Foundations is a series of interactive books where you work through proofs in Coq, gradually increasing in complexity: https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/
This is a bit on the edge of the domain that you're asking about (not really for beginners, and proofs are perhaps a somewhat niche type of programming) but I learned a lot from this and many people don't seem to know it, so I think it belongs in the list.
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#83HTDPv2 https://htdp.org/ - it's about learning to program rather than teaching a specific language. I thought the little projects you build along the way struck a good balance of interest, e.g. you're building a snake game by section 2 (but crucially you've already been exposed to how to think about data so you're not just dropped into the deep end with some boilerplate to fiddle with). Anyway, i could write tons of…
That sound like an interesting approach and I'd love to hear more about it!
One striking difference compared to most "beginner languages" is the Lisp-like syntax. I think focusing on problem solving rather than learning syntax is a great goal, but does this particular choice of a language make it harder for your "students" to continue learning in another language?
I'm assuming they would switch to a more popular language at some point (with syntax that resembles C), so I'm curious what that transition is like for beginners.
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#84Pretty much all of the books at newline do this: https://www.newline.co/
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#85My biggest gripe with all the project tutorials I’ve seen is that really quickly you get into a “ok I get what we’re doing” and then just copy the code they provide. At the end of the day you did zero mental workout because you didn’t have to figure out the code. I hope to find one of these that guides you but doesn’t give you the code immediately, but has a code answer key at the end or something. I get it that it’s…
Datacamp does what you want
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#86My biggest gripe with all the project tutorials I’ve seen is that really quickly you get into a “ok I get what we’re doing” and then just copy the code they provide. At the end of the day you did zero mental workout because you didn’t have to figure out the code. I hope to find one of these that guides you but doesn’t give you the code immediately, but has a code answer key at the end or something. I get it that it’s…
That’s why I like The Ray Tracer Challenge. He gives you test scenarios and a little bit of pseudo code (sometimes). The actual implementation has to be done by the reader.
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#87https://beautifulracket.com/ by Matthew Butterick - “An Introduction to Language-Oriented Programming Using Racket”
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#88For beginners, Daniel Holden's Build Your Own Lisp[1] is excellent material for learning C. It's a very succinct book.
For intermediate programmers, Build Your Own Redis[2] is a WIP book I am currently writing.
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#89Manning.com also has LiveProjects which are good for Machine Learning projects
Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?
#90There’s quite a few: - Zed Shaw’s Learn More Python the Hard Way[1] - Brian Hogan’s Exercises for Programmers (best for beginners or for learning a new language)[2] - Hal Fulton’s The Ruby Way[3] - Chris Ferdinandi’s Vanilla JS Academy[4] - Marc-Andre Cournoyer’s Great Code Club (it’s old, and the community doesn’t exist anymore, but i think he still maintains it)[5] - A few python books from No Starch Press (notably…
I learnt ruby with Zed Shaw’s Learn Ruby the Hard Way. Was a really great experience!