Ask HN: What's the best programming book you've read recently?

I invite you you to hop back into the book. I found it to be a fairly quick read for a technical book. The chapters are well motivated, and the code samples were well placed.

Since you have some additional experience with Erlang now, you might want to skip directly to the later chapters on libraries and frameworks, or on building real applications.

+ Joy of Clojure. A recent gift[card]. I put off learning Clojure because of it's more complex syntax. I'm both glad I did, and that I have this book now that that's the no longer the case.

+ ANSI Common Lisp. Lisp was out of reach at the time when my younger self might have pursued computer programming, and realizing around two years ago how accessible it had become got me to download Lisp in a Box and then buy the used copy. Currently visiting, this book orbits in and out of the rotation with a cometary periodicity.

+ Art of Computer Programming: Volume 3, Sorting and Searching Twenty-five years ago or so I bought volume I and about 15 years I donated it to the community radio station's books sale [WMNF 88.5]. I spent about $25 dollars including shipping for used copies of the first three volumes from Amazon last year. Right now each is on a different floor. The proximate reason Sorting and Searching is by the bed: I'm taking Algorithms I on Coursera and it is the first one that really dives into algorithms. A deeper reason is that Knuth always reminds me how much more there is to know - I'm getting better at the maths, but haven't learned MIX. Maybe one of these nights.

+ Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs I bought a "used" copy from MIT via Amazon last year. It's staggering how much is really in it that I glossed over 'reading' the free online version. It's much better than I thought, and I find myself constantly referring to it or just reading a section. It's also a reference for the other Coursera course I am taking: Funtional Programming in Scala with Martin Ordersky.

The non-programming books are from the public library:

+ How Literature Works: 50 Key Concepts. The sections are four to six pages and lightweight. Makes for something brief to read. It's the sort of book that I feel no obligation to finish.

+ Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology This book is actually why I mention the non-programming books. I don't read poetry, but I'd always seen people make a big deal about it, and there this was on the new book shelf. I see why the English make a big deal about Siegried Sassoon. I see why they make an even bigger deal about Wilfred Owen. It's potent and powerful and the bench of poets runs much deeper. It makes that war the last ancient one.

It's not a book about scala, it just so happens to use scala as the language to teach you how to program functionally. I've read other books that purport to do the same, they end up showing a light sprinkling of functional concepts. This book goes much deeper, and is ultimately much more rewarding.