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Steve Yegge

Programmer and essayist, formerly of Amazon, Google and Grab; author of the Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants and Stevey's Blog Rants essays.

11 things

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to MasterBook Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

loved

This is one of my favorite books on programming, although I burned through it in about 3 or 4 hours, and didn't learn a huge amount from it.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing CodeBook Martin Fowler

loved

and there aren't many books like it. None, maybe. They don't typically teach you how to write good code in school, and you may never learn on the job.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Design PatternsBook Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides

loved

This book was incredible.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

The Algorithm Design ManualBook Steven S. Skiena

loved

I've read a ton of data-structures and algorithms books, and I've never found one like this one. Its unconventional approach is refreshing and keeps you interested.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and PatternsBook Doug Lea

liked

Excellent book on concurrency.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Mastering Regular ExpressionsBook Jeffrey Friedl

liked

This is a great book for exactly, precisely the reason that all O'Reilly books are great: it covers complex material in a way that's accessible to uncomplex people.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

The Little SchemerBook Friedman and Felleisen

liked

This is without question one of the weirdest technical books you'll ever encounter. But don't be put off by the format.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

WikiWikiWebOther Ward Cunningham

liked

But WikiWikiWeb is still cool, and in particular it's cool because it has a lot of smart people agonizing over hard issues.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier. Entry #10 on the list is a wiki rather than a book.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

The C Programming LanguageBook Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie

mixed

This is an odd little book. It's frequently mistaken for an introductory programming book, which inevitably leads to frustration.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and ToolsBook Aho, Sethi and Ullman

mixed

and it's by far the hardest book in the list so far, even more so than The Algorithm Design Manual, in no small part because it's extremely dense.

His 'Ten Great Books' post (Stevey's Drunken Blog Rants), introduced as 'ten books that I really enjoyed, and that I'd recommend to anyone who's a computer programmer', limited to books he has finished and rereads. The page carries no publication date; the only date on it is an inline note dated 12/13/2004, so the post is from 2004 or earlier.

2010-04-15·sites.google.com ↗

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

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