151–160 of 256 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if it mentions GEB, off it goes into the circular file Why?
Because it's a Strange Loop.
When your waste basket is nonorientable, life becomes much simpler. Everything is both inside and outside the trash.
Although not directly development related. The most impressive book I've had the pleasure of reading is "Gödel Escher Bach: An eternal golden braid" (also known as GEB) from Douglas Hofstadter. It's hard to explain what it is about exactly, but it contains ideas and concepts from mathematics, computer science, philosophy and conscience. All of it is explained in very clear and interesting way. I can recommend it to a…
I heard a story from an AI professor a few years ago, who had an interesting heuristic for picking grad student applications to trash: if it mentions GEB, off it goes into the circular file. Fun book. Hofstadter actually doesn't like computers, apparently: this is in the record, and I've heard him mention that fact multiple times. He just likes playing with ideas.
If you read GEB, you can see in different chapters that he is a big fan of computers, simulations, attempts at AI, and the such.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhj6fDDnckE
[1] http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/douglas-r-hof...
Although not directly development related. The most impressive book I've had the pleasure of reading is "Gödel Escher Bach: An eternal golden braid" (also known as GEB) from Douglas Hofstadter. It's hard to explain what it is about exactly, but it contains ideas and concepts from mathematics, computer science, philosophy and conscience. All of it is explained in very clear and interesting way. I can recommend it to a…
A friend calls it "the most popular book that nobody has read," but maybe that was more accurate in the 90s.
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> >, the good old Design Patterns book, responsible for more atrocious over-abstracted, > This is a misunderstanding of the DP book. It is discussing an effect of the book, not the intent . > It would be similar to saying that the existence of TVTropes.com is responsible for terrible scripts of tv shows and movies. Which would be entirely accurate if script writers were widely using TVTropes pages as templates and cr…
>It is discussing an effect of the book, not the intent. Do you truly believe that specific DP book caused that effect? I don't. The DP book is extremely dry reading and most programmers have not actually read it. ([In terms of readership/ownership ratio] It's a book like Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time" ... everybody knows about it and some might have it on the coffee table but very few actually read it.) I…
I believe that it, and specific choices made in the selection and presentation of patterns in it, contributed significantly.
> The DP book is extremely dry reading and most programmers have not actually read it.
Perhaps, but the influence of a book (especially one which directly inspires other books) often extends beyond its direct readership.
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> if it mentions GEB, off it goes into the circular file Why?
Because it's a Strange Loop.
too much hard coding books imho. 'the design of everyday thing' and 'don't make me think' should be read more.
the design of everyday thing I've seen that recommended many times but it's a terrible book, IMHO. (I don't remember the specifics why, but vaguely remember the author waffles around without any real points).
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I wouldn't bother, it is an incomprehensible mess, impossible to get through, pretentious, non rigurous sloppy thinking, and ultimately a disservice to Godels incompleteness theorem.
That's a harsh critique, can you elaborate?
I'm surprised that Peopleware (DeMarco and Lister) isn't in there somewhere.
How, in the process of answering a specific programming question on Stackoverflow, would a link to a book on project management be appropriate? Also, what's up with the phrase "I'm surprised" that always comes up in threads like this: If you believe a book should be higher up, tell us why! Or do you question the author's methodology? If you misjudge the current significance or influence of a thing, ... so what?
Although not directly development related. The most impressive book I've had the pleasure of reading is "Gödel Escher Bach: An eternal golden braid" (also known as GEB) from Douglas Hofstadter. It's hard to explain what it is about exactly, but it contains ideas and concepts from mathematics, computer science, philosophy and conscience. All of it is explained in very clear and interesting way. I can recommend it to a…
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Metamagical-Themas-Questing-Essence-P...