A bit different from the audiobook request 2 years ago, as I’m not looking for audiobooks (so it does not have to be nice to listen to, I can see code examples) but regular books you read. Let me know which books helped you out the most, or that you just found fun to read!
EDIT: Thank you to everyone for helping me inflate my reading list! I was wondering what question I should ask to get answers including books on databases, cybersecurity, basically any topic that might fall under “computer science” and not just programming. In hindsight I maybe should have posted somewhere other than Programming and said something other than “Programming book recommendations” if I wanted that, but since I am also interested in programming and software engineering all these books will definitely be eaten soon. Thank you!
Oh, and !books@programming.dev for programming books exists but is sadly not getting much attention.
Once you know how to write code (in any language) it’s important to learn how to rewrite it (into something better)
Because manually stepping through your code is a PITA, so it’s better to put that process into code that you can save and re-run without thinking about it.
Any of the Head First series are great introduction books. Head First Design Patterns is great to learn programming patterns that you can typically re-use in any language :D
Haven’t read this one, but learning about architecture is important so you can keep your UI, logic and data layers separate, so when you need to replace one layer (like the UI, because the boss wants a refresh), you don’t need to pull out all your hairs due to frustration!
I don’t do DDD (at least not consciously), but understanding what a domain is really really important once you need to talk to business people (not something I like, but it’s necessary to write the right code).
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” is such a banger of a first line. Outdated, because “dead channel” won’t make sense to younger kids, but I bet they’ll get a kick out of learning about how TVs used to be.
Hey, I was going to read that person’s recommendations anyways, but thanks for the explanation of why each one matters :)
oh, i was not aware that there is a head first just about desgin patterns, thanks for the heads up.
And Archicture is something that gets more and more important for devs, because it’s likely that the code we write is just a part of a complex system of which we don’t control every part and understanding communication channels and the reasoning behind the setup of the system allows us to write our part in a way that it works well in the bigger thing and not something others (or worse, we) have to work around later.
That Head First about design patterns actually takes heavy inspiration from the Gang of Four. I haven’t read both (only Head First), but I’d wager you don’t need to read GoF if you’ve read Head First.
Only the writing style… is somewhat cringy.
that is the selling point of the head first books, they all feature bad jokes and other oddities to help you remember what you’ve read. it works.