Recommendations you can check.
Software developer and writer; co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse, author of the Coding Horror blog.
12 things
Don't Make Me ThinkBook Steve Krug
The single best book on usability I've ever read. The title says "web usability" but don't be fooled by its faux specificity. Steve Krug covers every important usability concept in this book, and covers it well.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
About Face: The Essentials of Interaction DesignBook Alan Cooper
It's a fantastically useful book; I've used whole chapters as guides for projects I worked on.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
Code Complete 2Book Steve McConnell
Steve McConnell's Code Complete 2 is the Joy of Cooking for software developers. Reading it means that you enjoy your work, you're serious about what you do, and you want to keep improving.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
The Mythical Man-MonthBook Frederick P. Brooks
I challenge any developer to pick up a copy of The Mythical Man Month and not find this tale of a long-defunct OS, and the long-defunct team that developed it, startlingly relevant.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
Rapid DevelopmentBook Steve McConnell
Rapid Development isn't about rapid development. It's about the reality of failure. The vast majority of software development projects will fail: they will overrun their schedules, produce substandard results, or sometimes not even finish at all.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
PeoplewareBook Tom DeMarco
If you have any legitimate aspirations to be a "Team Leader" in practice instead of in name only, you need to pick up a copy of this book.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
The Design of Everyday ThingsBook Donald A. Norman
Designing software is difficult, to be sure, but designing a door is difficult too. The nuances of design extend into every object you touch, whether it's some hot new SQL engine, or a humble shoe.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
The Inmates Are Running the AsylumBook Alan Cooper
This is the book that introduced the world to the concept of personas: rather than thinking of users as an abstract, difficult-to-describe, amorphous group of people, personas instruct us to talk about specific users who have names, personalities, needs, and goals.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
Programming PearlsBook Jon Bentley
Programming Pearls is the next best thing to working side by side with a master programmer for a year or so. It is the collective wisdom of many journeyman coders distilled into succinct, digestible columns.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to MasterBook Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
This book reminds me a lot of Programming Pearls, but it's actually better, because it's less focused on code. Instead of worrying about code, the authors boiled down all the practical approaches that they've found to work in the real world into this one book.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
The Visual Display of Quantitative InformationBook Edward Tufte
You don't need to own all four books in the series unless you're a completist (or a masochist, I suppose), but the first two are essential.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
Regular Expressions CookbookBook Jan Goyvaerts and Steven Levithan
I may be a card carrying member of the "Keep It Simple Stupid" club, but I'm making a meteor sized exception for regular expressions. Written properly, they will save you a tremendous amount of time in string manipulation, and I've never run across a project where they didn't come in handy somewhere.
His long-running "Recommended Reading for Developers" list, last updated September 2025.
2004-02-02·blog.codinghorror.com ↗
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