Slashdot Mirror
Your Favorite Tech / Eng. / CS Books?
chris_eineke writes "I like to read and to collect good books related to computer science. I'm talking about stuff like the classic textbooks (Introduction to Algorithms 2nd ed., Tanenbaum's Operating Systems series) and practitioners' books (The Practice of Programming, Code Complete) and all-around excellent books (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Practical Common Lisp). What's your stocking-stuffer book this Christmas? What books have been sitting on your shelves that you think are the best ones of their kind? Which ones do you think are -1 Overrated? (All links are referral-free.)"
The classic IP networking book
Possibly the most mind-expanding "C++" book ever written, and certainly the most poorly-named. It's all about template programming and will really change how you think about generic programming.
There's also Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" and Norvig's "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming" and "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" to satisfy the urge one sometimes gets to skip syntax and write software directly as a parse tree.
I love this book. Many times I run into developers that program the exact same way they learned in school, without ever really knowing why they do things a certain way or question if something can be done better. Effective Java is basically the knowledge that a mid-level and higher developer should have learned codified into book form. The organization is great (broken into topics - you do not need to read from front to back), and has clear and easy to understand examples. It is a great book to move a junior Java developer up to a mid-level Java developer very quickly. It is now available in a second edition that is even better and with more content than the first edition. It is also a Jolt award winner.
My very favorite technical book is Programming Perl, a.k.a. The Camel Book, by Larry Wall et al. It is indeed a rare gem to find a book with such complex technical concepts, that is so much fun to read, you can take it with you on the train commute, or on holiday, and read it from cover to cover.
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Strogatz. The one and only book about math that I ever read without ever being bored nor puzzled, and I actually learned something at the end of it.
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Object-Oriented-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/0201633612/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230057946&sr=8-1/
If you're doing oject oriented, there's no better place to start looking when you you're trying to learn good software design. I know, some people say patterns are overused, but they are essential to understanding and designing complex software.
The Art of Computer Programming, Design Patterns, Domain Driven Design, Refactoring, Modern C++ Design, C++ Gotchas, The Mythical Man Month, Applied Cryptography, Introduction to Algorithms, Intro to Personal Software Process.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
Effective C++, Scott Meyers -- I own the 2nd Edition, but there may be a newer one. This is the best book I've seen for really making sense out of C++. It is well-organized, covers its chosen topics thoroughly, and is fun to read.
/...
Agreed.
"Unix Network Programming" was a godsend.
Other CS books I like:
For math, my favorites are:
For physics, my favorites are:
Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems by Ross Anderson, professor at Cambridge University.
It replaces and expands upon Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier, and Practical Cryptography by Ferguson & Schneier to make a more holistic approach to security encompassing the entire system, not just using the latest (coolest) encryption techniques. Most real-life systems are broken by going around or ignoring the encrpytion.
Another classic is
TCP/IP Illustrated by the late Richard Stevens
Most people need/read only Volume I: The Protocols, but there is also Volume II: The Implementation which is wonderful albeit with a smaller following, though Volume III which is considered a big disappointment to many (I've never read the vol 3) isn't worry buying unless you're specifically interested in its contents.
The only serious alternative to TCP/IP Illustrated is Douglas Comer's series Internetworking with TCP/IP which is the series I learnt about TCP/IP programming with. Still highly recommended.
For Software development, The Mythical Man-Month by computing pioneer Frederick Brooks should be required reading, and Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister should be handed to every new IT/IM or software manager with their promotion or hiring (if they haven't read it already). Computing would suck so much less if we all held ourselves accounting to the basic ideas in these two books.
For historic, 3 books + bonus item that would have to be included are:
Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs by Niklaus Wirth
Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine in 1948 by Norbert Wiener
Computing Machinery and Intelligence, by Alan Turing and published in 1950 in Mind
Computer Lib/Dream Machines by Ted Nelson in 1974, is most often pointed to as the "birth" of hypermedia.
The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, which featured the Altair 8800 on its cover.