23 books like Types and Programming Languages

By Benjamin C. Pierce,

Here are 23 books that Types and Programming Languages fans have personally recommended if you like Types and Programming Languages. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

Yehonathan Sharvit Author Of Data-Oriented Programming

From my list on become a great developer.

Why am I passionate about this?

I boast a two-decade-long career in the software industry. Over the years, I have diligently honed my programming skills across a multitude of languages, including JavaScript, C++, Java, Ruby, and Clojure. Throughout my career, I have taken on various management roles, from Team Leader to VP of Engineering. No matter the role, the thing I have enjoyed the most is to make complex topics easy to understand.

Yehonathan's book list on become a great developer

Yehonathan Sharvit Why did Yehonathan love this book?

This book profoundly changed how I approach functional programming. I found its deep dive into core concepts like recursion, abstraction, and modularity incredibly insightful. The exercises pushed me to think critically and refine my problem-solving process.

Despite being an older book, its content remains relevant and valuable to me.  I consider it the best pragmatic introduction to functional programming.

By Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman, Julie Sussman

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As others have gone into, this is a great programming book for many reasons, and is a must-read for anyone who is interested in software design. Rather than waste time reaffirming the excellent positive reviews of this book, I wanted to cover something that I have not seen in the reviews: namely that there are multiple publishers for this book (as it is an "open source" book). At the time of writing, there is this McGraw-Hill publication, and, for 40% less, an MIT press edition. While I have not seen the McGraw-Hill version in person to see what quality benefits…


Book cover of Beautiful Code

Christian Clausen Author Of Five Lines of Code

From my list on reads with your hands on the keyboard.

Why am I passionate about this?

My life has been about programming for as long as I can remember. Learning to code was a way to connect with my dad and express my creativity at a young age. Since I grew up with code, it became the way I understood the world; often I could look at a process or program and immediately see its source code in my mind. I developed a very strong sense of aesthetics searching for “perfect code,” which for me was code that was not only error-free but resistant to errors. My studies, research, and career is about moving myself and all programmers closer to that goal: Software that never fails.

Christian's book list on reads with your hands on the keyboard

Christian Clausen Why did Christian love this book?

Continuing down the engineering part of this mini-curriculum, we have a collection of interesting ideas, each written by a different author, all of them inspiring.

Some of the chapters in this book I have reread more times than I can count, because the ideas are so original and intriguing that my fingers start to tingle.

By Andy Oram, Greg Wilson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beautiful Code as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How do the experts solve difficult problems in software development? In this unique and insightful book, leading computer scientists offer case studies that reveal how they found unusual, carefully designed solutions to high-profile projects. You will be able to look over the shoulder of major coding and design experts to see problems through their eyes. This is not simply another design patterns book, or another software engineering treatise on the right and wrong way to do things. The authors think aloud as they work through their project's architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and when it was important to…


Book cover of Distributed Algorithms An Intuitive Approach

Christian Clausen Author Of Five Lines of Code

From my list on reads with your hands on the keyboard.

Why am I passionate about this?

My life has been about programming for as long as I can remember. Learning to code was a way to connect with my dad and express my creativity at a young age. Since I grew up with code, it became the way I understood the world; often I could look at a process or program and immediately see its source code in my mind. I developed a very strong sense of aesthetics searching for “perfect code,” which for me was code that was not only error-free but resistant to errors. My studies, research, and career is about moving myself and all programmers closer to that goal: Software that never fails.

Christian's book list on reads with your hands on the keyboard

Christian Clausen Why did Christian love this book?

The building blocks of software are algorithms, so here our journey continues after you have established a deep understanding of programming languages.

Modern software is predominantly distributed, and since this book doesn't assume much it is the perfect introduction to algorithm analysis, concurrency, and distributed systems. And the best part is that you can just jump in and build these algorithms yourself.

By Fokkink,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Distributed Algorithms An Intuitive Approach as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The new edition of a guide to distributed algorithms that emphasizes examples and exercises rather than the intricacies of mathematical models.

This book offers students and researchers a guide to distributed algorithms that emphasizes examples and exercises rather than the intricacies of mathematical models. It avoids mathematical argumentation, often a stumbling block for students, teaching algorithmic thought rather than proofs and logic. This approach allows the student to learn a large number of algorithms within a relatively short span of time. Algorithms are explained through brief, informal descriptions, illuminating examples, and practical exercises. The examples and exercises allow readers to…


Book cover of Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases

Christian Clausen Author Of Five Lines of Code

From my list on reads with your hands on the keyboard.

Why am I passionate about this?

My life has been about programming for as long as I can remember. Learning to code was a way to connect with my dad and express my creativity at a young age. Since I grew up with code, it became the way I understood the world; often I could look at a process or program and immediately see its source code in my mind. I developed a very strong sense of aesthetics searching for “perfect code,” which for me was code that was not only error-free but resistant to errors. My studies, research, and career is about moving myself and all programmers closer to that goal: Software that never fails.

Christian's book list on reads with your hands on the keyboard

Christian Clausen Why did Christian love this book?

This tour of programming is a humorous reminder that we should always question our assumptions.

This book presents example after example of very simple Java programs all of which behave differently than you expect. It's both humbling and so provocative that you have to go into an editor and see if their claims are true.

By Joshua Bloch, Neal Gafter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Java Puzzlers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Every programming language has its quirks. This lively book reveals oddities of the Java programming language through entertaining and thought-provoking programming puzzles."

--Guy Steele, Sun Fellow and coauthor of The Java (TM) Language Specification

"I laughed, I cried, I threw up (my hands in admiration)."

--Tim Peierls, president, Prior Artisans LLC, and member of the JSR 166 Expert Group

How well do you really know Java? Are you a code sleuth? Have you ever spent days chasing a bug caused by a trap or pitfall in Java or its libraries? Do you like brainteasers? Then this is the book for…


Book cover of Type-Driven Development with Idris

Enrico Buonanno Author Of Functional Programming in C#

From my list on to learn to think like a functional programmer.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a programmer with a desire to constantly learn and improve. I have many years of experience in writing mission-critical software in highly event-driven areas such as FinTech and online auctions. Through interesting and challenging projects, I've always been fascinated by trying to generalize and abstract what it is that makes good code; so things like design patterns and best practices were just up my street. As I expanded this personal research, I found that functional programming provided many interesting techniques, but that many professionals in the industry were unaware of them. This is why I decided to show these techniques and their benefits to a wider audience through my book Functional Programming in C#.

Enrico's book list on to learn to think like a functional programmer

Enrico Buonanno Why did Enrico love this book?

For many years I did not question the validity of the language I was using, focussing instead on becoming good at getting it to do what was needed. It never occurred to me that, say, the type system could be flawed, causing extra work and allowing unnecessary bugs to seep in.

But what if, instead of writing validation code, you could define your types in a way that makes it impossible to create an invalid instance? What if you could define state transitions in such a way that a state machine cannot transition into an invalid state? These are indeed some of the things the Idris language allows.

In his book Type-Driven Development with Idris, Edwin Brady takes you through both the ideas of type-driven development, and how they're enabled in Iris. Iris looks a lot like Haskell, but better. It even has a unique solution for the complex issue…

By Edwin Brady,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Type-Driven Development with Idris as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

DESCRIPTION

Types are often seen as a tool for checking errors, with the

programmer writing a complete program first and using the type

checker to detect errors. And while tests are used to show presence of

errors, they can only find errors that you explicitly test for. In typedriven

development, types become your tools for constructing

programs and, used appropriately, can show the absence of errors. And

you can express precise relationships between data, your assumptions

are explicit and checkable, and you can precisely state and verify

properties. Type-driven development lets users write extensible code,

create simple specifications very early…


Book cover of JavaScript: The Good Parts: The Good Parts

Jeff Langr Author Of Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development: Code Better, Sleep Better

From my list on doing it right in your programming language.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love computer programming books almost as much as I love computer programming. As a high school student in 1980 I remember typing in really frustrating source code from the book BASIC Computer Games. Was programming meant to be a black art? Was code supposed to be an impenetrable mess of buried intent? When I started getting paid to program, I was happy to see that the answer to both questions was "no." I began to seek and enjoy books that espoused the "right" way to code in a given language. Here is a handful of books that have helped me and countless others learn to produce correct, clear, and maintainable code.

Jeff's book list on doing it right in your programming language

Jeff Langr Why did Jeff love this book?

During my first few weeks of JavaScript coding, I encountered what seemed to be an endless number of head-scratching moments: "I'm slowly reading the few lines of code I just wrote, it seems fine, so why isn't it doing what it looks like it should be doing?" Even more insidious at times than C++, JavaScript contains a number of fairly clever constructs, including things like hoisting, duck typing, and a loosey-goosey argument passing mechanism. This concise tome of fewer than 175 pages helped get me past those first few months, and as an author-stated goal, it helped me "learn to think in JavaScript."

By Douglas Crockford,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked JavaScript as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been developed and released in a hurry before it could be refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more reliable, readable, and maintainable than the language as a whole-a subset you can use to create truly extensible and efficient code. Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose…


Book cover of Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs

Jeff Langr Author Of Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development: Code Better, Sleep Better

From my list on doing it right in your programming language.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love computer programming books almost as much as I love computer programming. As a high school student in 1980 I remember typing in really frustrating source code from the book BASIC Computer Games. Was programming meant to be a black art? Was code supposed to be an impenetrable mess of buried intent? When I started getting paid to program, I was happy to see that the answer to both questions was "no." I began to seek and enjoy books that espoused the "right" way to code in a given language. Here is a handful of books that have helped me and countless others learn to produce correct, clear, and maintainable code.

Jeff's book list on doing it right in your programming language

Jeff Langr Why did Jeff love this book?

C++ is a tricky, beastly language, and there are no end of ways to program either incorrectly or inefficiently with it. Meyer's 1991 book set the bar high for similar books to come, providing great, detailed explanations about the language's pitfalls and how to avoid them. After reading Effective C++, though, you might find yourself wondering why you are coding in C++: The tips reveal so many insidious ways to shoot yourself in the foot, and worse, sometimes in a way that you won't even notice that your little toe is missing.

Effective C++ and the two follow-ons are essential reading for anyone working in C++. Nowadays you can purchase a digital edition that provides 140 total ways—adding in 50 additional tips from More Effective C++ and 40 from Effective STL.

By Scott Meyers,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Effective C++ as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Every C++ professional needs a copy of Effective C++. It is an absolute must-read for anyone thinking of doing serious C++ development. If you've never read Effective C++ and you think you know everything about C++, think again."
- Steve Schirripa, Software Engineer, Google "C++ and the C++ community have grown up in the last fifteen years, and the third edition of Effective C++ reflects this. The clear and precise style of the book is evidence of Scott's deep insight and distinctive ability to impart knowledge."
- Gerhard Kreuzer, Research and Development Engineer, Siemens AG The first two editions of…


Book cover of Practical Object-Oriented Design: An Agile Primer Using Ruby

Jeff Langr Author Of Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development: Code Better, Sleep Better

From my list on doing it right in your programming language.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love computer programming books almost as much as I love computer programming. As a high school student in 1980 I remember typing in really frustrating source code from the book BASIC Computer Games. Was programming meant to be a black art? Was code supposed to be an impenetrable mess of buried intent? When I started getting paid to program, I was happy to see that the answer to both questions was "no." I began to seek and enjoy books that espoused the "right" way to code in a given language. Here is a handful of books that have helped me and countless others learn to produce correct, clear, and maintainable code.

Jeff's book list on doing it right in your programming language

Jeff Langr Why did Jeff love this book?

When learning a new language, you'll want to avoid the mistake of assuming that you can adapt your old way of doing things to your new language (like I first tried many years ago). Even though Java and Ruby are both object-oriented languages, the "right" approach to implementing things is dramatically different between the two. Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby makes it easy to learn how to apply object-oriented design and to implement the code properly in Ruby, making your system easier to change as it grows.

By Sandi Metz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Practical Object-Oriented Design as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Complete Guide to Writing Maintainable, Manageable, Pleasing, and Powerful Object-Oriented Applications





Object-oriented programming languages exist to help you create beautiful, straightforward applications that are easy to change and simple to extend. Unfortunately, the world is awash with object-oriented (OO) applications that are difficult to understand and expensive to change. Practical Object-Oriented Design, Second Edition, immerses you in an OO mindset and teaches you powerful, real-world, object-oriented design techniques with simple and practical examples.



Sandi Metz demonstrates how to build new applications that can "survive success" and repair existing applications that have become impossible to change. Each technique is illustrated…


Book cover of Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns

Philipp Fehre Author Of JavaScript Domain-Driven Design

From my list on learning from programming classics.

Why am I passionate about this?

Computers have fascinated me since my childhood, having fond memories of my dad's ZX81, but even so I played around I was never truly captured by the programming until I recognized it as a way of writing rather than raw engineering. Through my studies of media sciences I found my fascination with how language can shape perception, and through my work in developer advocacy, I found how communities are shaped as well. Now I am fascinated with how different programming languages can shape thinking, having had the opportunity to solve problems at large companies in nonmainstream languages.

Philipp's book list on learning from programming classics

Philipp Fehre Why did Philipp love this book?

Smalltalk is not as common or popular as it once was, but the influence its design had on programming is hard to overstate.

Reading this book has changed how I think about object orientation, and how I design systems, learning the patterns of Smalltalk makes it clear what object oriented design is really intended to achieve.

By Kent Beck,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This classic book is the definitive real-world style guide for better Smalltalk programming. This author presents a set of patterns that organize all the informal experience successful Smalltalk programmers have learned the hard way. When programmers understand these patterns, they can write much more effective code. The concept of Smalltalk patterns is introduced, and the book explains why they work. Next, the book introduces proven patterns for working with methods, messages, state, collections, classes and formatting. Finally, the book walks through a development example utilizing patterns. For programmers, project managers, teachers and students -- both new and experienced. This book…


Book cover of Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: A Guide for Data Scientists

Yuxi (Hayden) Liu Author Of Python Machine Learning By Example: Build intelligent systems using Python, TensorFlow 2, PyTorch, and scikit-learn

From my list on machine learning for beginners.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a machine learning engineer applying my ML expertise in computational advertising, and search domain. I am an author of 8 machine learning books. My first book was ranked the #1 bestseller in its category on Amazon in 2017 and 2018 and was translated into many languages. I am also a ML education enthusiast and used to teach ML courses in Toronto, Canada.  

Yuxi's book list on machine learning for beginners

Yuxi (Hayden) Liu Why did Yuxi love this book?

This book is more advanced than the first book I recommended. It presents ML theoretical and practical aspects step-by-step from the bottom up. Each chapter elaborates at length on a core building block in the ML life cycle. For example, feature engineering, supervised learning, and model evaluation have their own separate chapters, with intuitive discussions of how they work. Most of the concept is taught through the simple yet powerful Python Module Scikit-Learn so it won’t overburden you with heavy programming. This book will be perfect for practitioners with some understanding of statistics and linear algebra.

By Andreas C. Müller, Sarah Guido,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Introduction to Machine Learning with Python as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Machine learning has become an integral part of many commercial applications and research projects, but this field is not exclusive to large companies with extensive research teams. If you use Python, even as a beginner, this book will teach you practical ways to build your own machine learning solutions. With all the data available today, machine learning applications are limited only by your imagination. You'll learn the steps necessary to create a successful machine-learning application with Python and the scikit-learn library. Authors Andreas Muller and Sarah Guido focus on the practical aspects of using machine learning algorithms, rather than the…


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