Domain: amazon.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to amazon.com.
Comments · 40,271
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Re:One of my favorite places...
I just dislike how they describe each of their third party resellers' products as Used and New.
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Excellent book on database systems...
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Re:Portable media player features
While this is true, flash drives are getting REAL cheap and the price just seems to drop more every week. I picked up an 8Gb for $10 a few weeks back and since my laptop doesn't do HD it is perfect for my SD rips. But if you really want to carry HD with you the 16-32Gb sticks have been falling too. Hell Amazon has a 32Gb for less than $50 after rebate. So if this machine really can do HD on the go it really wouldn't be hard to load up the flash and carry it with you.
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Re:No, because Americans want cars, not mass trans
Nickled and Dimed my ass. Have you read that book? or just post links to it? I have, and it's the saddest pile of crap ever. That book should be subtitled: On (Purposely) Failing to Get By in America. I honestly don't know what her and the others who push for the living wage expect to accomplish by basing their results on flawed methods, groupthink, and emotional rhetoric. The evidence is pretty straight forward, fixing wages above market values only results in a surplus of workers, AKA Unemployment. They are trying to hurt the people they want to help. That is insane subjective thinking over objective fact. Problems happen when the governments tries to ensure people get what they think they deserve, just look at what happened when the government started giving people houses they think they deserved.
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Re:No, because Americans want cars, not mass trans
a living wage in this country is $5 an hour tops. And you know what? it makes me hate the UAW even more because I realize what over indulged asshole they are, assembly line isn't Hard work, it's low stress mindless repetition that a trained monkey or immigrant can do.
No, it's quite clear that you are the fucking idiot in the room, by being a worker opposed to a decent living for workers. Oh, and $5 an hour my ass.
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Re:It's simple...
I just use an ebook reader to read the most current stories on about 100 different rss feeds I have. A little htmltopdf and I got more news than I have ever been able to read in a 2 hour daily commute. What is this news "paper" you speak of?
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The lighter side of AntarcticaIf you like the lighter side of Antarctica, you should read Nic's website or book 'Big Dead Place'. It's hilarious and realistic at the same time, and I speak as someone who spent 3 years there. Of course, it'll never be as realistic as this...
And keep in mind that the festive period of Antarctica is not Giftmas or even New Years (too much work to do, too many bosses around), but the Midwinter, celebrated when you are halfway through your 'tour of duty', and the days are the coldest.
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The lighter side of AntarcticaIf you like the lighter side of Antarctica, you should read Nic's website or book 'Big Dead Place'. It's hilarious and realistic at the same time, and I speak as someone who spent 3 years there. Of course, it'll never be as realistic as this...
And keep in mind that the festive period of Antarctica is not Giftmas or even New Years (too much work to do, too many bosses around), but the Midwinter, celebrated when you are halfway through your 'tour of duty', and the days are the coldest.
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Re:That's good, but. . .
What about the new 2400 gigabyte pata hard drives coming out! 2400GB Scorpio Pata 5400 Rpm 2.5IN haha
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Re:Doesn't matter if it starts out bad
Er, not quite. Algorithms are the base theory of computer languages. Algorithms are more like English sentence structure. More like English grammar. So the Knuth of English grammar might be Quirk et all's "A Grammar Of Contemporary English". All 1132 pages of gerunds, infinitives, the order of adjectives, etc. Your English teacher's idea of heaven is within its covers.
The author's description from long ago. Now in PDF form.
http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/issue_pdf/backmatter_pdf/XXVII/1.pdfLinguistic schools like it.
http://grammar-history.kiev.ua/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&Itemid=55&gid=16&orderby=dmdate_publishedCheers,
Jim -
Re:his eyes are fine
I would suggest you read this book for more interesting case studies about the brain and down-to-earth descriptions.
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Software requirements, by Karl Wiegers
This book will teach you how to get a clear picture of what you want to build before you build it; it will also explain what the price of not doing so is.
This is a really good guide on how to write software requirements, I must also point out that most of the ideas there can be applied in other cases where planning is needed (ex: going shopping, organizing a party, moving out, etc).
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Re:his eyes are fine
http://www.amazon.com/Physiology-Behavior-MyPsychKit-Neil-Carlson/dp/0205593895/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230187013&sr=8-1
Chapter 1 has a short item on blindsight and it's relation to consciousness. You should really read chapter 1 of this book.IMHO, sight doesn't happen as much in the eyes as it does in the brain.
Well, that's how the brain does its thing. Your eyes, ears, nose, skin, are instruments that extend from the brain. Data that flows from your senses to your brain lacks meaning until the brain processes it.
A few posts earlier you say:
( http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1072951&cid=26228425 )Without a working visual cortex, nothing from the eyes enters the brain. At all.
Blindsight does not imply that the visual cortex does not "work". Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_visual_cortex
Data still flows from the eyes over the optical chiasm to the primary visual cortex (the cortex around the calcarine fissure in the occipital lobe). From there, there are multiple "streams" of visual data. One of those streams is the one that "enters" consciousness.
It is the absolute certainty with which you refute the previous, and the postulation of the following near-superhuman senses that make you appear rather uninformed and quite arrogant.
Most likely, he is using sound or air pressure. Blind people can often maneuver by hearing things like subtle changes in sound of footprints, etc., echoing off of or being aborbed by walls, etc. There are also subtle changes in air pressure as you approach obstacles, and that can often be 'felt' by blind people.
Take a biological psychology course or your own medicine (your signature)
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Blindsight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight -
Re:Bad ideaWhile it's probably impossible (or nearly so) to find the state-mandated guidelines for the time I was in 6th grade, I was able to find the current ones.
1. Describe the rock cycle and explain that there are sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks that have distinct properties (e.g., color, texture) and are formed in different ways.
There are a myriad of other guidelines, of course, but in all the K-12 Science standards the word "algorithm" doesn't even appear. If not for a book called "Code" I would have had to enter my first CS course without knowledge of what an algorithm was, how decimal numbers were represented in binary and hexadecimal, and a myriad other of the most basic concepts that are useful foundations for functioning in a digital world.
I know that folks are going to point out that I'm talking about state specific guidelines, but these are mostly determined by the federal standards in order to remain in compliance with the No Child Gets Ahead Act. I've provided links for California, Massachusetts, and Kansas curriculum in an attempt to present a cross section of the country--search each for "igneous" and "algorithm" and you'll get the idea.
I'm not saying that the ACM has my complete support on this, simply that standards for evolving disciplines, most notably science, might be well served by inclusion of some more modern concepts. -
Neural Network Design...
... by Hagan, Demuth, Beale.
Most of my other favorite books have been posted here already, but no books on this topic have appeared yet.
I will be taking this course next term so I already got this MATLAB based book. I've already been reading it and it definitely deserves all the 5 star ratings it is getting on Amazon.
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Re:Dupe,
This article addresses more high-end gaming systems in SLI mode. Are there any RTS games out there that really tax a single NV 8800 GT even? I have a 7600 x3 setup from about 3 years ago that I hardly ever use anymore because a 2x 8800 GT OC is almost 2x as fast and was about 300 dollars cheaper, well 2.5 years later. I only get SLI with a single video card and usually upgrade at the first sign of low fps in a game I am playing, so it saves me money in the long run not having to buy a whole new setup. I have one more PCIe16 slot waiting for 8800's to get under 100 bucks. I am half tempted to get this deal though as I could upgrade my media server in the living room with the memory, hmmmm.
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Stealing the Network : How to own a continent
http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Network-How-Own-Continent/dp/1931836051 Well, this got me into Linux and Network Security the way no other source could have. Oh, also came to know about Slashdot.org through this book only. The whole culture, basically.
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Re:Design Patterns
Yes, both of these.
Also, as a practitioner's guide, Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C# by Robert C. Martin is one of the best books I've read. You don't have to be a C# programmer to appreciate it (the examples are in C#, but could just as easily be in any other OO language), but if you're turned off by C#, look for the earlier edition which, I believe, uses C++ for the examples.
Also, The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas should be on every programmer's bookshelf.
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Re:Design Patterns
Yes, both of these.
Also, as a practitioner's guide, Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C# by Robert C. Martin is one of the best books I've read. You don't have to be a C# programmer to appreciate it (the examples are in C#, but could just as easily be in any other OO language), but if you're turned off by C#, look for the earlier edition which, I believe, uses C++ for the examples.
Also, The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas should be on every programmer's bookshelf.
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Re:Design Patterns
Yes, both of these.
Also, as a practitioner's guide, Agile Principles, Patterns and Practices in C# by Robert C. Martin is one of the best books I've read. You don't have to be a C# programmer to appreciate it (the examples are in C#, but could just as easily be in any other OO language), but if you're turned off by C#, look for the earlier edition which, I believe, uses C++ for the examples.
Also, The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas should be on every programmer's bookshelf.
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Re:Not a robot conspiracy
When will a "generated" paper will be awarded the nobel prize?
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Re:My favorites list
Not sure if you meant How to Solve it: Modern Heuristics but I would thoroughly recommend this book - for me it's up with SICP in changing the way you think. For anyone who's not familiar with heuristic search, this book will give you a great introduction to an alternative method of problem-solving.
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Some others
Some others that I have/really enjoyed/re-read:
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Some others
Some others that I have/really enjoyed/re-read:
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Some others
Some others that I have/really enjoyed/re-read:
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Some others
Some others that I have/really enjoyed/re-read:
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Wirth's
The Pascal User Manual and Report. For some reason, I've got three of these [so I must REALLY like it] and now that I've seen the price on Amazon, I'm keeping them!
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Mathematics book
I'll recommend a book that's really not CS, but is the most elegant, crystal-clear exposition of developing ideas from axioms I have ever read:
Calculus by Spivak
It's ostensibly about calculus - but it's really about how to think with crystal clarity and minimal assumptions and develop a vast field (in-joke) of conclusions from this. It was the first truly deep mathematics book I read, and I think it's a worthwhile step for anyone who thinks for a living.
There is a concept that is mentioned from time to time in mathematics education, called 'mathematical maturity'. It's a hard concept to define, and hard to measure with a test. My own, personal, idea about it is the level when you have to learn mathematics that extends beyond what your intuition has reached.
It is a difficult bridge to cross, and most people (in my experience) stop learning mathematics when their intuition about it ceases to carry them further. But it is an amazing bridge to cross, and once you do, you start to see how axioms can start to shape your intuition - it's a breathtaking experience (at least it was for me).
I crossed that bridge, a long time ago, thanks to a great mathematics professor, Dr. Swiatek, and that book. Like many of the greatest books, it takes you on a journey - it tells you a story. It brings you along on a voyage through the landscape of what a number really is, and what comes as a result. I can't recommend it enough if you are determined to learn what mathematics is really about. -
The Story about Ping
This book about the notorious ICMP Echo Request/Response utility is a must-have for any person in IT.
This highly-rated review describes the book more informatively than I can. -
The Story about Ping
This book about the notorious ICMP Echo Request/Response utility is a must-have for any person in IT.
This highly-rated review describes the book more informatively than I can. -
Re:Dragon Book
Indeed. I was disappointed by my CS education (they didn't offer a compiler design class), and decided to teach myself. I looked at the dragon book and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Then I read Compiler Construction: Principles and Practice. It does a great job of teaching the theory, then giving an example in C. The project in the book is really good too.
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Pocket Ref
http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Ref-Thomas-J-Glover/dp/1885071000
'Pocket Ref' is a conveniently sized book containing an absolutely outrageous amount of data. In 3-3/4" x 5-1/2" x 3/4" dimensions and around 500 pages, Thomas Glover covers topics from ASCII tables, to load bearing capacities of 2'x4's, to a comprehensive math and physics formula 'cheat sheet'.
I don't know if it is possible to exaggerate how useful this book is. Along with a decent calculator and a knack for solving practical problems, you will be unstoppable with the Pocket Ref at your side. McGyver certainly had a copy hidden in his shirt pocket.
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Fyodor's Official "Nmap Network Scanning"
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Norman
The Design of Everyday Things
And yes, it is a tech/eng/cs book as far as I'm concerned.
JJ -
Okasaki and Brooks
Fundamentals: "Purely Functional Data Structures" by Chris Okasaki. A short, extremely clear book which will explain why key data structures work.
Engineering: "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks (it won't be obvious how good this book is until you graduate and get your first job).
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Okasaki and Brooks
Fundamentals: "Purely Functional Data Structures" by Chris Okasaki. A short, extremely clear book which will explain why key data structures work.
Engineering: "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks (it won't be obvious how good this book is until you graduate and get your first job).
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EE and CE recommendations
Although I confess that I may have spent too much time in school, I can say that I had an opportunity to read and study a lot of books in both electrical engineering and computer engineering. My personal favorites are:
- Microelectronic Circuits by Sedra and Smith: There are lots of books about analog amplifier design. However, I have found this one to provide a comprehensive survey of component level analog design with op-amps, BJTs, and FETs. It provides lots of examples and doesn't usually "leave the exercise to the reader."
- Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson: The bible of computer architecture, written by two of the biggest names in the field. I'm not familiar with the latest version, but the previous edition took the most interesting and useful concepts from over 3000 papers and narrowed it down to a reasonable text. Contains everything you ever wanted to know about performance analysis, pipelines, out-of-order issue, and caches, backed by benchmarking from real machines and theoretical maximums from simulated machines.
- Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein: Hardly an introductory book, this book contains 99.9% of the algorithms or data structures you are going to need. Personally, I don't like the exercises, but the sheer reference value makes this text necessary.
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EE and CE recommendations
Although I confess that I may have spent too much time in school, I can say that I had an opportunity to read and study a lot of books in both electrical engineering and computer engineering. My personal favorites are:
- Microelectronic Circuits by Sedra and Smith: There are lots of books about analog amplifier design. However, I have found this one to provide a comprehensive survey of component level analog design with op-amps, BJTs, and FETs. It provides lots of examples and doesn't usually "leave the exercise to the reader."
- Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson: The bible of computer architecture, written by two of the biggest names in the field. I'm not familiar with the latest version, but the previous edition took the most interesting and useful concepts from over 3000 papers and narrowed it down to a reasonable text. Contains everything you ever wanted to know about performance analysis, pipelines, out-of-order issue, and caches, backed by benchmarking from real machines and theoretical maximums from simulated machines.
- Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein: Hardly an introductory book, this book contains 99.9% of the algorithms or data structures you are going to need. Personally, I don't like the exercises, but the sheer reference value makes this text necessary.
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EE and CE recommendations
Although I confess that I may have spent too much time in school, I can say that I had an opportunity to read and study a lot of books in both electrical engineering and computer engineering. My personal favorites are:
- Microelectronic Circuits by Sedra and Smith: There are lots of books about analog amplifier design. However, I have found this one to provide a comprehensive survey of component level analog design with op-amps, BJTs, and FETs. It provides lots of examples and doesn't usually "leave the exercise to the reader."
- Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson: The bible of computer architecture, written by two of the biggest names in the field. I'm not familiar with the latest version, but the previous edition took the most interesting and useful concepts from over 3000 papers and narrowed it down to a reasonable text. Contains everything you ever wanted to know about performance analysis, pipelines, out-of-order issue, and caches, backed by benchmarking from real machines and theoretical maximums from simulated machines.
- Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein: Hardly an introductory book, this book contains 99.9% of the algorithms or data structures you are going to need. Personally, I don't like the exercises, but the sheer reference value makes this text necessary.
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Algorithm Design Manual
While Intro to Algorithms is considered the bible of algorithms, the Algorithm Design Manual might please some even more. Half the people I know love it for the extensive and very useful "Catalog of Algorithmic Problems". The other half like it for the entertaining yet educational "war stories".
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Some simple explanations on complex topics
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Understanding the FFT, Second Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Second-Revised-Anders-Zonst/dp/0964568152/
Examples are in BASIC (with line numbers even), but very simple explaination of the fast Fourier transform.-----
Adventures in Group Theory: Rubik's Cube, Merlin's Machine, and Other Mathematical Toys (2nd edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Group-Theory-Merlins-Mathematical/dp/0801890136/
Introduction to group theory using Rubik's cubes. Lots of typos, but they won't slow you down much.-----
Cryptography Decrypted
http://www.amazon.com/Cryptography-Decrypted-H-X-Mel/dp/0201616475/
Cryptography explained in pictures.-----
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Some simple explanations on complex topics
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Understanding the FFT, Second Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Second-Revised-Anders-Zonst/dp/0964568152/
Examples are in BASIC (with line numbers even), but very simple explaination of the fast Fourier transform.-----
Adventures in Group Theory: Rubik's Cube, Merlin's Machine, and Other Mathematical Toys (2nd edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Group-Theory-Merlins-Mathematical/dp/0801890136/
Introduction to group theory using Rubik's cubes. Lots of typos, but they won't slow you down much.-----
Cryptography Decrypted
http://www.amazon.com/Cryptography-Decrypted-H-X-Mel/dp/0201616475/
Cryptography explained in pictures.-----
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Some simple explanations on complex topics
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Understanding the FFT, Second Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Second-Revised-Anders-Zonst/dp/0964568152/
Examples are in BASIC (with line numbers even), but very simple explaination of the fast Fourier transform.-----
Adventures in Group Theory: Rubik's Cube, Merlin's Machine, and Other Mathematical Toys (2nd edition)
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Group-Theory-Merlins-Mathematical/dp/0801890136/
Introduction to group theory using Rubik's cubes. Lots of typos, but they won't slow you down much.-----
Cryptography Decrypted
http://www.amazon.com/Cryptography-Decrypted-H-X-Mel/dp/0201616475/
Cryptography explained in pictures.-----
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Re:Most Excellent Book
The C++ Programming Language, 3rd Edition is pretty excellent.
Ugh. He may have invented the language, but that book is as long as it is awful. There are *much* better (and more accessible) texts on C++.
I agree with you. Having read the third edition soon after it came out (and having read the second edition earlier) I felt that the third edition present too much stuff early on for someone new to the language. I also got the impression that intent of the book seemed more to "sell" the language to the reader than introduce the language.
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This one's easy
Discrete Mathematics with Applications by Suzanna Epp. This book was a godsend in my discrete math class, which was taught by a Chinese prof who had recently acquired English, and who chose what must be the most god-awful textbook I've ever read. It's a favorite casual-reading book of mine.
And in the "useful" category, Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions is my #1 most referred-to book. Totally dog-eared. And I think I've only mastered about a 1/3 of the book. -
This one's easy
Discrete Mathematics with Applications by Suzanna Epp. This book was a godsend in my discrete math class, which was taught by a Chinese prof who had recently acquired English, and who chose what must be the most god-awful textbook I've ever read. It's a favorite casual-reading book of mine.
And in the "useful" category, Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions is my #1 most referred-to book. Totally dog-eared. And I think I've only mastered about a 1/3 of the book. -
The Art of Electronics - Horowitz and Hill
The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill will give you a tremendous insight into how the underlying silicon in your computer (and radio) function. Every time I read a snippet, I want to build something electronic. Link to Amazon.
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Electrical engineering?
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Re:K&R - The C Programming Language
This book is a tour de force. I have never read a book close to this level. But I can recommend one that is almost as good on ruby: http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Programming-Language-David-Flanagan/dp/0596516177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230071249&sr=1-1 I go back to a time when objects were not even invented yet. Ruby is an incredible language. Coming from a guy who is not impressed by objects.
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C++ Books by Scott Meyers, and others...
Effective C++ and More Effective C++. I haven't read Effective STL, but I'm guessing it's good as well.
Also remember: The Art of Unix Programming and of course Joel Spolsky is a favorite, too.
I guess everyone should read The Fifth Disciple, as well.
And then there's of course Crucial conversations