Iâve spent most of my life writing codeâand too much of that life teaching new programmers how to write code like a professional. If itâs 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
This bookâs title is absolutely perfect! Thereâs 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 itâs 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. Thatâs super fun for someone like me whoâs hyper-focused on a single kind of programming.
"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." -VMâŚ
It feels a little weird to recommend a book written forty-something years ago about the development of a computer youâve never heard of⌠but this book does a better job than any book Iâve ever read of capturing how it feels to be part of an engineering team completely committed to doing something great.
Itâs hard for muggles to understand why engineers get so passionate about their projects, but this book gets it. I felt seen.
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.
Head, Heart, and Hands Listening in Coach Practice
by
Kymberly Dakin-Neal,
This NABA award-winning book explores intentional listening as an essential skill for adults, introducing the Head, Heart, and Hands Listening model to amplify effective listening in personal and professional interactions. Itâs a vital resource for coaches, psychologists, HR professionals, teachers, counselors, salespeople and others who listen for a living. ListeningâŚ
A thoroughly fascinating (and fascinatingly thorough) look at engineering practices at Google.
Itâs an encyclopedia written by a bunch of authors, so some of the chapters are a little dry, but for those of us who arenât on teams with 25,000 engineers itâs 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.
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 coversâŚ
Yes, itâs a textbook, albeit a particularly well-written one. You may already have it on your shelf, if youâve taken a programming class or two.
Iâm way too old to have used CLRS as a textbook, though! For me, itâs an effectively bottomless collection of neat little ideasâan 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 âahaâ moment when I first understand how it works.
This is a personal story of Carole and her rise from the ashes of tragedy as a fourteen year old, to success in many areas of her life. Carole graphically depicts the story of how success is the result of a passion and determination that comes from deep inside
Iâve read a lot of books about programming; very few of them have made me laugh. None made me laugh as much as this book.
Thereâs one chapter where⌠nah, I donât 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 itâs 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 âsurprise and delightâ the playerâand thatâs exactly what this book did for me.
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,âŚ
Weâve 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 weâve 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 âThe Rules.â
The Rules of Programming uses plenty of examples to explore these rulesâreally more like guidelines than rules, guardrails to let new programmers know theyâre heading towards trouble. Itâs a fun and thought-provoking read whether youâre a new-ish programmer or just someone looking for a new perspective on coding.
A memoir of homecoming by bicycle and how opening our hearts to others enables us to open our hearts to ourselves.
When the 2008 recession hit, 33-year-old Heidi Beierle was single, underemployed, and looking for a way out of her darkness. She returned to school, but her gloom deepened. AllâŚ
An inspiring, hilarious, and much-needed approach to addiction and self-acceptance,
Youâre Doing Great! debunks the myth that alcohol washes away the pain; explains the toll alcohol takes on our emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being; illustrates the steps to deal with our problems head-on; exposes the practices usedâŚ