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Top 5 Software Development Magazines?

Posted by Cliff on from the anyone-remember-_Byte_? dept.

juanescalante asks: "I graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science about 9 months ago and I have been working as a software developer for more than a year now. I keep looking for ways to improve myself in what I do, and seeking to gain knowledge from those who have a lot more experience than me. I've been reading books like 'Code Complete' and 'The Pragmatic Programmer' and I would also like to subscribe to a couple of great magazines. So, to all you experienced developers, which are the top software development magazines?"

3 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong question by jhoger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The right question is "how do I become a better programmer?"

    The answer is: write more code, and learn more programming techniques and languages. Also learn about infrastructure software like databases, and the more rigorous aspects of the OSes you use like networking and security.

    Certainly you should read books, especially "programming methodology" types of things. Not because there's a silver bullet laying around, but because it helps you think about how to improve the quality and efficiency of your work.

    But the bottom line is write lots of code. You can get lots of experience and help in this by joining some open source projects and contributing, or you can just work on your own projects or products.

    If you have any time left in the month, you can lay in bed reading the computer mags. But really, if you join some real projects you'll spend too much time reading mailing lists to waste much time reading print mags.

    -- John.

    1. Re:Wrong question by barzok · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The books are great - I've been reading some of the same books mentioned in this discussion. But without applying the things you learn from them, they're almost useless.

      Read the books, write lots of code. They go hand in hand.

  2. Defend your time by Markus+Registrada · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Your best use of magazine-reading time is not to read magazines. Instead, get on the mailing list of a Free Software project where you would actually want to use the result if it were further along. (Please, no IRC clients!) Then, start making little improvements and sending in patches. Develop a thick skin and a willingness to rewrite; your work will suck for a long time, but recoding under expert direction is more educational than coding without.

    After you get a feeling for the project (or a second project, if the first doesn't click), pick some neglected corner and implement what people have wanted for for a long time. Don't announce it until you have something useful working. Don't try to get that integrated; instead, wait a couple of months until you see why it sucks, and redo it half as big, with cleaner features, and offer that. While you're rewriting you can think about what else to tackle once you're done. Rinse, repeat.

    Whatever you have had integrated in a Free Software project you can refer to proudly on a resumé. That, and the collection of your postings on the mailing list, will count for way more than anything you can say in an interview at your next job.