One Monk's Reading List

While I don't consider myself an expert at programming by any means, here's a brief list of books on my current reading list. I've managed to get through some and am slowly working my way through others.

Note that some are rather expensive. Some time back, I started setting aside a portion of my paychecks for the reading list. Usually by the time I'm ready for the next one, I can afford it.

Please note that a) the books are listed in the order that I thought of them and b) the links take you to the most recent listing on FatBrain using the Monastery's [isbn://] link.

That said, here's one monk's (incomplete) reading list:

The Art of Computer Programming, by Donald E. Knuth
The Pragmatic Programmer, By Andrew Hunt,David Thomas
Object-Oriented Software Construction, By Bertrand Meyer
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object Oriented Software, By Erich Gamma, et. al.
Analysis Patterns, By Martin Fowler
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, By Frederick P. Brooks Jr (note: anniversary edition)
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, By Steve McConnell
After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering, By Steve M. McConnell
Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules, By Steve McConnell
Software Requirements, By Karl E. Wiegers
Debugging Applications, By J. Robbins (Note: While written for Visual Studio, this outlines techniques useful for any language, platform, or environment.)
Code, By Charles Petzold
Dynamics of Software Development, By Jim McCarthy
About Face, By Alan Cooper

By the way, I second merlyn's suggestion for reading source, though wish to add an adjective: read good source. Look for stuff by people whose coding skills you (hopefully) respect. For example, I've been reading the source of CPAN modules by Lincoln Stein, Gisle Aas, <a href=http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=author&query=tilly">tilly, dominus, and others that've been mentioned before.

While it's possible to learn from bad code, there's a danger that you'll pick up bad habits in the process. Save yourself the effort and start with the good stuff

Also, it helps to locate some good periodical sites and go through their archives. TPJ, for example, has published some really useful stuff. Personally, I'm looking forward to the re-opening of their archives.

--f

Comment on One Monk's Reading List Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
(dws)Re: One Monk's Reading List by dws (Chancellor) on May 23, 2001 at 10:08 UTC
To footpad's excellent list, I would add Programming Pearls, by Jon Bentley. Make sure to get the 2nd edition. Writing Efficient Programs, by Jon Bentley. Out of print. Ask around and borrow a copy. Bentley's books are fun reads. They're written in short chapters, each illustrating a particular aspect of the craft. His optimization case studies are particulary fascinating. He takes real, (poorly) working code, and improves it step by step, measuring as he goes.	[reply]
Re: One Monk's Reading List by arhuman (Vicar) on May 22, 2001 at 20:44 UTC
I still wonder why nobody ever cites : MUSASHI (Eiji YOSHIKAWA) (The Sword and the Stone, in some editions) It's describing the way of the coder through the pleasant metaphor of a samurai... "Only Bad Coders Badly Code In Perl" (OBC2IP)	[reply]
Re: One Monk's Reading List by petdance (Parson) on May 23, 2001 at 17:48 UTC
If you're going to pick just one book, pick Code Complete. I love any book that lets me say "This book is our departmental coding standard." xoxo, Andy %_=split/;/,".;;n;u;e;ot;t;her;c; ". # Andy Lester 'Perl ;@; a;a;j;m;er;y;t;p;n;d;s;o;'. # http://petdance.com "hack";print map delete$_{$_},split//,q< andy@petdance.com >	[reply]


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