Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve spent most of my life writing code—and too much of that life teaching new programmers how to write code like a professional. If it’s true that you only truly understand something after teaching it to someone else, then at this point I must really understand programming! Unfortunately, that understanding has not led to an endless stream of bug-free code, but it has led to some informed opinions on programming and books about programming.


I wrote

The Rules of Programming: How to Write Better Code

By Chris Zimmerman,

Book cover of The Rules of Programming: How to Write Better Code

What is my book about?

We’ve got a problem. When freshly-minted programmers join our team at Sucker Punch they need to be turned into effective…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery

Chris Zimmerman Why did I love this book?

This book’s title is absolutely perfect! There’s no agenda here other than identifying things that will make you a more effective and productive programmer.

That leads to a book packed with solid advice, whether it’s about how to write code or how to think about your career. The authors are consultants, so there are plenty of clear and interesting examples drawn from many different problem domains. That’s super fun for someone like me who’s hyper-focused on a single kind of programming.

By David Thomas, Andrew Hunt,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Pragmatic Programmer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"One of the most significant books in my life." -Obie Fernandez, Author, The Rails Way

"Twenty years ago, the first edition of The Pragmatic Programmer completely changed the trajectory of my career. This new edition could do the same for yours." -Mike Cohn, Author of Succeeding with Agile , Agile Estimating and Planning , and User Stories Applied

". . . filled with practical advice, both technical and professional, that will serve you and your projects well for years to come." -Andrea Goulet, CEO, Corgibytes, Founder, LegacyCode.Rocks

". . . lightning does strike twice, and this book is proof." -VM…


Book cover of The Soul of a New Machine

Chris Zimmerman Why did I love this book?

It feels a little weird to recommend a book written forty-something years ago about the development of a computer you’ve never heard of… but this book does a better job than any book I’ve ever read of capturing how it feels to be part of an engineering team completely committed to doing something great.

It’s hard for muggles to understand why engineers get so passionate about their projects, but this book gets it. I felt seen.

By Tracy Kidder,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Soul of a New Machine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tracy Kidder's "riveting" story of one company's efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and has become essential reading for understanding the history of the American tech industry.

Computers have changed since 1981 when The Soul of a New Machine first examined the culture of the computer revolution. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations.

The Soul…


Book cover of Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time

Chris Zimmerman Why did I love this book?

A thoroughly fascinating (and fascinatingly thorough) look at engineering practices at Google.

It’s an encyclopedia written by a bunch of authors, so some of the chapters are a little dry, but for those of us who aren’t on teams with 25,000 engineers it’s spell-binding to see what programming at that sort of scale looks like. Some of the chapters prompted us to think really hard about the way we do things at Sucker Punch.

By Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck, Hyrum Wright

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Software Engineering at Google as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Today, software engineers need to know not only how to program effectively but also how to develop proper engineering practices to make their codebase sustainable and healthy. This book emphasizes this difference between programming and software engineering.

How can software engineers manage a living codebase that evolves and responds to changing requirements and demands over the length of its life? Based on their experience at Google, software engineers Titus Winters and Hyrum Wright, along with technical writer Tom Manshreck, present a candid and insightful look at how some of the world's leading practitioners construct and maintain software. This book covers…


Book cover of Introduction to Algorithms

Chris Zimmerman Why did I love this book?

Yes, it’s a textbook, albeit a particularly well-written one. You may already have it on your shelf, if you’ve taken a programming class or two.

I’m way too old to have used CLRS as a textbook, though! For me, it’s an effectively bottomless collection of neat little ideas—an easy-to-describe problem, then a series of increasingly clever ways to solve that problem. How often do I end up using one of those algorithms? Not very often! But every time I read the description of an algorithm, I get a nugget of pure joy from the “aha” moment when I first understand how it works.

Book cover of Becoming a Better Programmer: A Handbook for People Who Care About Code

Chris Zimmerman Why did I love this book?

I’ve read a lot of books about programming; very few of them have made me laugh. None made me laugh as much as this book.

There’s one chapter where… nah, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Plus it has cartoons! Obviously, none of that would matter unless it also had interesting things to say about the practice of programming, but it’s packed full of interesting perspectives on all sorts of issues, from team dynamics to thinking about your career to an explicit consideration of the ethics of programming.

When we make games at Sucker Punch, we aim to “surprise and delight” the player—and that’s exactly what this book did for me.

By Pete Goodliffe,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Becoming a Better Programmer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

If you're passionate about programming and want to get better at it, you've come to the right source. Code Craft author Pete Goodliffe presents a collection of useful techniques and approaches to the art and craft of programming that will help boost your career and your well-being. Goodliffe presents sound advice that he's learned in 15 years of professional programming. The book's standalone chapters span the range of a software developer's life - dealing with code, learning the trade, and improving performance - with no language or industry bias. Whether you're a seasoned developer, a neophyte professional, or a hobbyist,…


Explore my book 😀

The Rules of Programming: How to Write Better Code

By Chris Zimmerman,

Book cover of The Rules of Programming: How to Write Better Code

What is my book about?

We’ve got a problem. When freshly-minted programmers join our team at Sucker Punch they need to be turned into effective professional coders as quickly as possible so that we can get on with making games like Ghost of Tsushima. To accelerate this process we’ve distilled our combined programming wisdom into a set of easy-to-remember and easy-to-apply rules that we teach our newbies, which we imaginatively call “The Rules.”

The Rules of Programming uses plenty of examples to explore these rules—really more like guidelines than rules, guardrails to let new programmers know they’re heading towards trouble. It’s a fun and thought-provoking read whether you’re a new-ish programmer or just someone looking for a new perspective on coding.

Book cover of The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery
Book cover of The Soul of a New Machine
Book cover of Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time

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Mimi Zieman Author Of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Mimi's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.


By Mimi Zieman,

Why should I read it?

29 authors picked Tap Dancing on Everest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…


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