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The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

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Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#11

Post by IgorPartola »

I have read a number of programming books but the only two that really stood out to me and that I still remember are The Pragmatic Programmer and K&R The C Programming Language. They are obviously very different but foundational in ways that enabled me to get a lot of things done.

I do still encourage people to learn C only because you could understand how the language works or a long weekend and it will help you appreciate just how things actually work under the hood (and a bit above the assembly instructions level). And TPP is great for helping you understand what to do when actually working on a deliverable project and not just the exciting parts. It’s the difference between building a toy that runs on your machine and a project others can run and use.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#12

Post by shakabrah »

sfpotter wrote: post #7

Alternatively, consider being an idealistic programmer! - Fall in love with a single topic, regardless of how trendy. - Learn as much as you can about it. - Keep learning about it. - Learn about it some more. - Spend years of your life doing nothing but breathing and thinking about this one topic. - Let fads and fashion pass you by. - Don't settle for good enough. Try to build the best version possible. - Choose wher…

Amen

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#13

Post by kylecazar »

IgorPartola wrote: post #11

I have read a number of programming books but the only two that really stood out to me and that I still remember are The Pragmatic Programmer and K&R The C Programming Language. They are obviously very different but foundational in ways that enabled me to get a lot of things done. I do still encourage people to learn C only because you could understand how the language works or a long weekend and it will help you app…

My first programming book was K&R as well. It was an excellent introduction to programming.

You might think that coming from K&R, I wouldn't have liked my second and third books, which were two of the first Head First series. They took essentially the opposite approach from K&R, but I enjoyed them too and learned quite a bit. Something about the content lended itself to a more visual approach to the material (maybe the nature of OOP).

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#15

Post by smingo »

hamasho wrote: post #3

When I started a programming job, I read this book, Clean Code, and Code Complete. Code Complete is kinda old but still great, Clean Code is not bad but it's Java centric and has a lot of questionable tips. But The Pragmatic Programmer never gets old.

I got on very well with Van der Linden's Deep C Secrets. It's from 1994, so misses out on the newer versions, but aside from that it's aged well, IMHO.

And good news: it's been open sourced: https://freecomputerbooks.com/Expert-C-Programming-Deep-C-Se... and its well regarded on Hacker News https://hackernewsbooks.com/book/expert-c-programming-deep-c... .

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#16

Post by IgorPartola »

kylecazar wrote: post #13
IgorPartola wrote: post #11

I have read a number of programming books but the only two that really stood out to me and that I still remember are The Pragmatic Programmer and K&R The C Programming Language. They are obviously very different but foundational in ways that enabled me to get a lot of things done. I do still encourage people to learn C only because you could understand how the language works or a long weekend and it will help you app…

My first programming book was K&R as well. It was an excellent introduction to programming. You might think that coming from K&R, I wouldn't have liked my second and third books, which were two of the first Head First series. They took essentially the opposite approach from K&R, but I enjoyed them too and learned quite a bit. Something about the content lended itself to a more visual approach to the material (maybe t…

It was technically not my first. Really my first was around age 6 or 7 and it was a companion to my grandfather’s Pravetz 8D which had a listing of BASIC commands and I think like 20 or so listings of programs. His students had also programmed a few games that he had copies of which were cool. I ended up trying to modify them and writing some of my own but that’s how I got into this whole thing.

But K&R was the first book that I read that made me feel like I fully understood what was happening. Of course I was missing a lot of nuance a a bunch of abstraction layers that I learned about later but that book felt very self-contained. I read the first time it when I think I was 25 or 26 and at 39 I might want to do a refresher.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#18

Post by theultdev »

sfpotter wrote: post #7

Alternatively, consider being an idealistic programmer! - Fall in love with a single topic, regardless of how trendy. - Learn as much as you can about it. - Keep learning about it. - Learn about it some more. - Spend years of your life doing nothing but breathing and thinking about this one topic. - Let fads and fashion pass you by. - Don't settle for good enough. Try to build the best version possible. - Choose wher…

I get you're comparing philosophies but none of those suggestions are mutually exclusive to the lessons taught in this book.

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#19

Post by _kst_ »

smingo wrote: post #15
hamasho wrote: post #3

When I started a programming job, I read this book, Clean Code, and Code Complete. Code Complete is kinda old but still great, Clean Code is not bad but it's Java centric and has a lot of questionable tips. But The Pragmatic Programmer never gets old.

I got on very well with Van der Linden's Deep C Secrets . It's from 1994, so misses out on the newer versions, but aside from that it's aged well, IMHO. And good news: it's been open sourced: https://freecomputerbooks.com/Expert-C-Programming-Deep-C-Se... and its well regarded on Hacker News https://hackernewsbooks.com/book/expert-c-programming-deep-c... .

Are you sure it's been open sourced? I'm reasonably sure you've linked to a site offering pirated copies.

There are several links to PDF versions of the book. None of them include either a copyright page or a statement that it's been released as open source.

The author's own website https://afu.com/> includes errata for the book, but doesn't provide or mention a free copy.

A free sample of the Kindle version of the book does include a copyright notice. A book published in 1994 is not public domain unless it's been explicitly released.

Something that appears to be a legitimate PDF sample (not the while book) is here:

https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780131774292/samplep...

Re: The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)

#20

Post by EagnaIonat »

sfpotter wrote: post #7

Alternatively, consider being an idealistic programmer! - Fall in love with a single topic, regardless of how trendy. - Learn as much as you can about it. - Keep learning about it. - Learn about it some more. - Spend years of your life doing nothing but breathing and thinking about this one topic. - Let fads and fashion pass you by. - Don't settle for good enough. Try to build the best version possible. - Choose wher…

Redundancy groups are full of idealists.

It's ok to be passionate about a topic, but also understand if that topic is still relevant in 3-5 years.

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