Recommended Books

Evil Phil · 18-09-2009 11:10am #1

Feel free to post any books you feel are relevant to the Software Development (no books about some guy's prong please).

Just to get the ball roling:

Code Complete - while I've never read the full book its a must have for every MS developers book shelf.
Ground Up Java - A good book for anyone learning to program in Java.
The O'Reilly Cookbooks - good solutons for everyday programming tasks.

pauldiv · 19-09-2009 8:58pm

Objects First with Java
A Practical Introduction using BlueJ

Good book for learning object oriented programming in Java

Civilian_Target · 23-09-2009 9:00pm

Eric Evans - Domain Driven Design
An in-depth exploration of how a well-designed domain model with simple programming inside can vastly ease your architechure. A must read for any serious programmers, IMHO.

Friedman et al. - The Little Schemer
A basic introduction to Scheme, designed to challenge the way you program and think. If you have never got into functional programming, this book will be a revelation.

Mark Pilgrim - Dive Into Python
Without the best introduction to any language I've read. Introduces Python to programmers, and will have you writing in a weekend.

Sparks · 23-09-2009 9:39pm

My shortlist:

The C Programming Language - definitely one of the best books on a language ever written. Clean, concise, and usable both for learning and reference.
Unix Programming Environment - very good introduction to unix programming.
Design of the UNIX Operating System - there's a few like this (design of the BSD OS, etc, etc, etc) and the Lyons book on unix, but this is about the best starting point. You want to know why an OS is designed the way it is, this is what you read.
Code Complete - just seconding Evil Phil. This book's worth overcoming the Microsoft Press label
The Pragmatic Programmer - it's not going to teach you C or Lisp, butif you want to be a programmer as a profession, this should be on your library, well-read and with a half-dozen markers in it.
Knuth. Enough said. Unless you haven't heard of it, in which case, this is the book to learn real programming on.
The gang of four book gets a lot of press, and it's pretty good (though not for beginners) -- but you really ought to read the original book as well. It doesn't cover programming, but it explains patterns better.
There are four books by Tufte:
Read them. All of them. Hell, even if you never design a UI and quit programming tomorrow, they're some of the most beautiful books you'll ever buy -- and if you design UIs, or you ever have to give a presentation (you will, it's inevitable), then you need to read these books. To save our brains, if for no other reason.

majestic0110 · 24-09-2009 11:15am

A book I am currently studying that I think is excellent is :

Java How to Program, 6/E By Deitel & Associates,

A great book that gives "real-world" examples of application development.

Head First Design Patterns

An excellent introduction in O-O design patterns.

oh and :

Beginning Javascript

Is a good introduction for anyone wishing to delve into client-side OOP.

Not a comprehensive list, but a start!

showry · 24-09-2009 12:00pm

Debugging by David Agans - common sense rules but often overlooked,

+1 for The Pragmatic Programmer - again it's common sense but we all need a few reminders every new and then

none · 01-10-2009 10:18pm

Thinking in Java (3rd Edition Revision 4.0, November 20, 2002).

Some C++ stuff is also available from his site.

I found Bruce Eckel's book one of the most useful on Java concepts and tricks.

none · 27-10-2009 10:25pm

It's not one book but rather an online library but I hope it still fits here

http://docstore.mik.ua/orelly/
Not all shown books are actually available for download but a few Java and Oracle ones definitely are.
Recommending saving the favourites locally.

Sparks · 27-10-2009 10:31pm

Time Management for Systems Administrators.
It's nothing to do with development per se, but I've gotten an awful lot of ass-saving from that little book. It permanently lives on my nightstand these days.

Evil Phil · 11-11-2009 9:29pm

The Good Study Guide

Also not about development but for anyone taking up a course, particulary at the degree level, its worth reading.

Fergaloc · 11-02-2010 8:41pm

A great book for PHP MySQl is:

PHP and MySQL Web Development Second Edition
^^^this is edition 2 ( the one is use )

PHP and MySQL Web Development
^^^ first edition

I think these would be very helpful, they start from the very beginning of what you need to know to advanced stuff

Evil Phil · 14-02-2010 1:04am

Core Python Programming - tis good.

Beyond Enstein - yeah, not development related but still a great book.

Reku · 16-02-2010 2:20pm

For just getting a budget taste of a language, to give you the very basic syntax and idea of what it can do, so you can decide if it's worth investing in a more expensive book, I have to say I quite like the 'In Easy Steps' series.
http://www.ineasysteps.com/
They usually only cost about €10-15 in Irish bookstores, probably cheaper if you get them from Amazon.

As a general book for those working in OOP languages I quite like The Object-Oriented Thought Process: Developer's Library. Gives some great explainations of concepts IMO and the author does his best to abstract it away from any specific language (when he uses code to help make something more tangible he does so in Java, C# and VB, so the examples are not only of use to those familiar with one specific language).

McGintyMcGoo · 03-03-2010 10:15pm

If you're interested in Visual Basic 2008 and have limited or no Visual Studio experience, you should try "Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step (Paperback)" from Microsoft Press.

Read from cover to cover and do all of the little exercises inside (regardless of how simple you think they might be) and you'll be amazed at what you pick up. Definitely a good foundation for reading more advanced books. :cool:

Tyrant^ · 25-03-2010 4:54pm

Can someone recommend me a book for a introduction to java as a complete beginner. I've no previous programming experience at all!

I picked up Head First Java. Went through the first couple of chapters and I feel lost. It doesnt seem to explain much and the exercises at the end of the chapters are difficult.

Im thinking about getting

Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies

Or

Ground Up Java

Which of these would be best or can someone recommend something better ?

Thanks

lmimmfn · 13-06-2010 12:26am

Joshua Bloch's Effective Java Programming 2nd Edition - http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/

I only have the 1st edition, but its an absolute must have if you want to be a good java dev/programmer, it basically provides a set of rules on how things should be done in have, e.g. if you override .equals you must override the hashcode etc.

He wrote the Java Collections framework in the JDK so that should say it all really.

JohnathanM · 25-10-2010 3:30pm

A few I didn't spot in the list:

Clean Code - Uncle Bob's best text on decent, basic principles.
Pattern Oriented Software Architecture - Siemens and others, spread over five well-written books. The whole "Design Patterns" series is well worthwhile.
Pattern Hatching - Vlissides from the GoF offers a little more, practical insight.
xUnit Test Patterns - A nice reference text for common patterns in unit testing. Also doubles as a heavy-duty doorstop.
Refactoring - Martin Fowler's well-known book. In fact, read everything with his name even near to it. He has a genuine knack for explaining things in an easily understandable and yet thorough way.

Naikon · 28-10-2010 4:58pm

Not a dev book par se, but Unix Power Tools really is a gem of a book. Contains pretty much everything a user(not a sysadmin) would possibly need under a *NIX enviroment. Worth the money.

Stockholm Syndrome · 01-11-2010 2:11am

I'm also looking for a book to help me with Java. As I don't have a lot of money, I really can't afford to buy a book then realise there was a better one i could have bought. Which one should I get? Thanks

FruitLover · 01-11-2010 9:43am

See post #7. Can't do much better than free.

BillShorey · 06-11-2010 2:14pm

Absolutely, Bruce Eckel's stuff is well recommended all over the net, can't go wrong with it.

Korvanica · 20-11-2010 12:31am

majestic0110 wrote: »

Head First Design Patterns

An excellent introduction in O-O design patterns.

All the head first series are brilliant....

Ive the Java,C# and HTML/CSS ones and I would really reccomend them, planning on getting Design Patterns ASAP and the android one when its out...

dazberry · 13-01-2011 9:16pm

As x86 assembly language questions pop up now and again, I'd recommend these oldies:

Assembly Language Master Class

Revolutionary guide to assembly language

For Win32 (another oldie) but really good:

Win32 System Services

For those of us that don't want to work in Delphi anymore:

.Net 2.0 for Delphi Programmers

and for those of us that still have to:

Algorithms and Data Structures

and for when we try to do some C#:

Visual C# 2005: The Base Class Library

Visual C# 2005 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

and when we just go and do something complete different:

Programming In Scala: A Comprehensive Step-By-Step Guide

and as previously mentioned:

Head First Design Patterns
[size=-3]I can't tell you the number of people that I wish had read this, or planned to, or at-least had some idea that it even existed[/size]

D.

testtech05 · 15-01-2011 12:51pm

Can anyone recommend a good book for C ++ programming probably from beginners level, I did some in college but have been away from it for 3-4 years now and I want to brush up on what I used to know and improve on it.
If I could manage it it would greatly improve my chances of a promotion in work!!

th3 s1aught3r · 24-01-2011 2:11pm

Could anyone recommend a good book for Javascript for beginners ?

Fergaloc · 24-01-2011 6:06pm

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

Could anyone recommend a good book for Javascript for beginners ?

I've no experience with Javascript books, this might help though: http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/03/top-10-best-javascript-books-that-beginners-should-read.html

Stockholm Syndrome · 10-03-2011 10:15pm

Is there any good books specifically for Java Graphics? As I want to learn it and any book ive come across has either nothing related to it or very dated content.

fasty · 16-06-2011 8:16am

Hacker's Delight

No, the good kind. Covers all sorts of bit twiddling and shortcuts that are quite cool to know about. I think little tricks like this really help with how you think about programming.

Programming Pearls

After studying algorithms, after reading Code Complete, read this. It was like the final piece of the puzzle for me.