There are so many interesting and helpful books on programming that sometimes it's hard to know where to start when you want to expand your knowledge!
Books help to expand everyone's knowledge, from people who are starting their careers as developers to professionals or university professors, in the end everyone is looking for the same thing: to expand their knowledge! If you are learning to program, are already a developer or just want to learn something new and want to feed your brain with the best programming books, look no further!
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
This book is such a great example of practice makes perfect! Because it trains with examples, so be prepared to do more than just read about helpful tips and tricks and get ready to put into work that information that you've been feeding your brain. Not only will you learn what constitutes good code, Martin includes portions of code for analysis, helping you further your understanding of good and bad techniques, isn't it great? While the code you will be inspecting is primarily Java-based, the principles you will learn in this book can be applied to any coding language.
The Self-Taught Programmer: The Definitive Guide to Programming Professionally by Cory Althoff
Althoff is a self-taught developer who took a job at eBay, only to find there was still a tremendous amount to learn to be a professional developer. This book is one of the best programming books for beginners learning to program, but even more than that, it’s for all self-taught developers to expand and polish their skills to a great professional level, kinda as he did but with a little push! The main topics in this book include:
- Object-oriented computer programming for beginners
- Using code to build a web scraper
- The fundamentals of computer architecture and algorithms
- Coding practices for software development.
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold
Petzold is one of Microsoft’s Seven Windows Pioneers and has been writing about programming since 1984. First published in 2000, his book about code itself is a perennial favorite in the coding world thanks to its readable explanation of how programming and code are built into the fabric of everyday life. Petzold explains coding and assembly language for a general audience using familiar concepts such as Braille and Morse code, can you believe it? Better still, the book is illustrated, helping even those who don’t consider themselves code-savvy to follow along through the whole thing.
The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data by Kevin Mitnick and Robert Vamosi
The name might be quite a mouthful but Mitnick, the author of the bestseller Ghost in the Wires, calls himself “the world’s most famous hacker.” Yeah… that's because his hacking career began at age 13 when he hacked a punch card system to ride the bus around Los Angeles for free!. Mitnick now teaches the general public about invisibility in the age of Big Data. Those who are new to programming can follow along with the simple, step-by-step advice presented in this book.
Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think by Andy Oram and Greg Wilson
Ever thought about how expert developers approach difficult problems in software development like it's nothing? In this unique and insightful book, the authors have compiled case studies from some of the leading computer scientists that reveal how they found unusual, carefully designed solutions to high-profile projects! The authors think aloud as they work through their project's architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and when it was important to break rules. This book is such a beautiful guide for you to better your abilities as a developer!
The Algorithm Design Manual (Third Edition) by Stevens S. Skiena
Skiena is the author of several popular books in the fields of algorithms, programming, and mathematics. The Algorithm Design Manual is widely used as an undergraduate text in algorithms and within the tech industry for job interview preparation, this is a book that you need to pay close attention to, so if you looking to work in a tech-enterprise environment, this book will help you to get the tools you need to do the job, if there is a book you should have on your books shelf, this is one of those you must read to the end.
Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps:
Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble and Gene Kim
I received a book recommendation few years ago, the person a tech lead who inspire me to read it, the thing he told me I can still remember, he told me, you need to reach the end but it is going to be hell but at the end, you will be one step closer to reaching your to full potential as a software engineer, nothings come easy when the expertise demanded is hard to get, Nicole Jez and Gene are top leaders in DevOps, they opened the path for all us to follow, I love to read from people who inspire us to be more significant on what we do as craftsmen.
Learning Javascript Design Patterns by Addy Osmani
As developers we rarely come to meet a guy/girl who inspires us to be better every day, when we think about our game as a front-end developer for example you come to meet Addy Osmani, an Irish software engineer head of Google Chrome's Web developer Insights division, overseeing web development tools such as Google Lighthouse, Google PageSpeed Tools and the Chrome Headless browser. He has also worked on search initiatives, such as User experience signals for ranking (Core Web Vitals, page experience), and software development tools to improve user experience on the web, I think the book is for everyone whos willing to do the jump and get to the next level as a software engineer.
Eloquent Javascript (Third Edition): A modern introduction to programming by Marijn Haverbeke
In 2007 Marijn develop a javascript component that provides a code editor in the browser, this code editor has been used to develop a few of the most popular code editors and tools around the world, like Brackets (code editor), Google Chrome DevTools, Mozilla Firefox, and others like uBlock. Marijn as a writer created one of the richest books for learning modern javascript these days, the book is full of content you will appreciate if you are a developer who wants to learn the deepest things about javascript, this is one I fully recommend, more if you are interested in starting a career as a front-end engineer.
These programming books provide a broad tour of the subject of coding from several different points of view. From beginners to experienced coders looking to expand their circle of knowledge, knowledge is guaranteed in every reading!
We missed your favorite book? share it in the comments, we can all add it to our to-be-read list!