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Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

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Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#21

Post by layer8 »

minkles wrote: post #2

I don't read programming books any more because they are mostly shit or expensive or expensive and shit. The hit rate of finding a good one is so low it's easier to just fudge your way around a problem using some idiom you're already experienced with. Just ambling around the book store earlier I saw a 3 inch think tome around Go programming called Pro Go or something. I opened it and it was a whole book of instructio…

There’s always LibGen and friends if you really can’t afford much, or to sample before buying. You can also get used copies cheaper. The pricing shouldn’t keep you from reading.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#22

Post by layer8 »

nyarlathotep_ wrote: post #7
minkles wrote: post #2

I don't read programming books any more because they are mostly shit or expensive or expensive and shit. The hit rate of finding a good one is so low it's easier to just fudge your way around a problem using some idiom you're already experienced with. Just ambling around the book store earlier I saw a 3 inch think tome around Go programming called Pro Go or something. I opened it and it was a whole book of instructio…

Many are outdated by the time they hit the press. I recall a few years back, Packt et al would publish like "Modern React" or something, with examples that wouldn't build by the time the book was out. Typesetting is awful too, as you mentioned. A single paragraph for something dead simple is spread over multiple pages. Nothing against such authors; its fruitless to hit a moving target. Books on programming languages…

The most useful books to read are about topics that don’t get easily outdated.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#24

Post by anthk »

minkles wrote: post #2

I don't read programming books any more because they are mostly shit or expensive or expensive and shit. The hit rate of finding a good one is so low it's easier to just fudge your way around a problem using some idiom you're already experienced with. Just ambling around the book store earlier I saw a 3 inch think tome around Go programming called Pro Go or something. I opened it and it was a whole book of instructio…

From Mark Burguess I'm reading:

- The Unix Programming Environment (not that one; this one it's a bit more modern). You'll get a bit of Perl instead of AWK, but it's fine.

- The GNU C Tutorial. Not as good as 'The C programming language'; but still useful.

- A shot Introduction To Operating Systems. Slightly outdated C++, because most of the time the issue it's just about fixing the include headers.

Most of the things learned there will work as is as Perl5, ANSI C/GNU C and so don't change a lot over time, if any.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#25

Post by layer8 »

larve wrote: post #14

I actually find the quality of programming books to have starkly increased in the last decade. I find a lot of manning's and o'reilly's release to have a pretty long shelf-life. For example, I really enjoyed and often go back to: - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/building-event-driven-m... - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-data-intensiv... - https://www.manning.com/books/100-go-mistakes-and-how-to…

> I actually find the quality of programming books to have starkly increased in the last decade.

I suspect this might be a side-effect of programmers buying less books. The ratio of authors who write them because they really care instead of because they hope to make some bucks would then increase.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#26

Post by dayvid »

minkles wrote: post #2

I don't read programming books any more because they are mostly shit or expensive or expensive and shit. The hit rate of finding a good one is so low it's easier to just fudge your way around a problem using some idiom you're already experienced with. Just ambling around the book store earlier I saw a 3 inch think tome around Go programming called Pro Go or something. I opened it and it was a whole book of instructio…

The really good books are REALLY good, though. But the only places I've seen them were at university bookstores (and even then mainly MIT/Stanford) or Amazon when they had physical stores. Otherwise you have to get them online

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#27

Post by johncessna »

vsuperpower2021 wrote: post #12
jll29 wrote: post #6

Some counter-examples: - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - C Interfaces and Implementations - Design Patterns - Compilers: Principles, Practice and Tools Each of these should make you go "a-ha!", in its own way.

Design Patterns is your suggestion of a book that isn't shit? Even the list of "a-ha" books has random landmines tossed in.

The Gof book should be on the list, but I agree that it suffers from similar problems that a lot of first-of-their-kinds do. There are iterations on it that are a much better read.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#28

Post by jbs789 »

larve wrote: post #14

I actually find the quality of programming books to have starkly increased in the last decade. I find a lot of manning's and o'reilly's release to have a pretty long shelf-life. For example, I really enjoyed and often go back to: - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/building-event-driven-m... - https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-data-intensiv... - https://www.manning.com/books/100-go-mistakes-and-how-to…

Just picked up a few of these for my summer vacation. Appreciate the recommendations!

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#29

Post by jbs789 »

smusamashah wrote: post #15

" The Design of Everyday Things" is a great non-programming book that programmers should read. It tells you why/how you should make things more usable for your users. If you find yourself failing to use something properly, it's not you being stupid, it's the design. Design of doors is famously known example from this book.

I often think about the idea that a good design takes information from the world (or the users head) and puts it into the system, reducing cognitive load. So if a door needs to be pushed, put a push plate on it, rather than requiring the user to remember to push the handle. Think about it when labelling buttons quite a bit, for example. Or workflows.

Re: Programmers Don't Read Books – But You Should (2008)

#30

Post by taeric »

Amusingly, I thought Code Complete was disliked now? I thought it was fun, but definitely over sold on things.

I liked the other ones, even if I don't remember take aways from them at the moment.

I do reject the Knuth observation here. Annoyingly, most criticism you will ever see of a Knuth book are from people that never read them. Not that I don't get the point, as following closely behind that group are those that bought but never read them. Especially with the newer volumes, there are a lot of very fun topics covered.

And, sure, you are best not putting together many of the low level things that are covered in those books. But... you are also best not blindly following whatever is in the other books, too? Again, many folks dislike Code Complete for fairly solid reasons.

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