FYI, Ted, I didn't mention "Hacker's Guide to Visual FoxPro 6.0" upfront because I didn't want anyone to think I was playing favorites! :)
I guess what I'm interested in are those books that make you feel like you become a better "software craftsman" because you read it.
Paul H. Tarver Tarver Program Consultants, Inc. Email: paul@tpcqpc.com
-----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Ted Roche Sent: Friday, July 14, 2017 11:10 AM To: profoxtech@leafe.com Subject: Re: [NF] Best Programming Books To Read & Become Better Programmers
On Fri, Jul 14, 2017 at 11:21 AM, Paul H. Tarver paul@tpcqpc.com wrote:
Tech Republic just published a gallery of the 15 Books That Every Programmer Should Read:
Anyone want to weigh in on their thoughts about this list
Halfway through the list I wondered if they cadged an article from 1995. Not they they aren't GREAT books that influenced my life, and contained universal truths, but they are old.
And has anyone actually made it through TAOCP?
or suggest books that made a big difference in their programming life?
After cleaning out the FoxPro 2.x books, I'm down to about 24 feet of bookshelf space devoted to programming. VFP3+, Python, Ruby, PHP, CSS, HTML.
For VFP, I learned something from every book, but most are not about "programming," they're about FoxPro. I'm too biased to recommend just a few :)
Zeldman's "Designing with Web Standards" is a classic.
Gamma and Helm's Design Patterns
Anything Gerry Weinberg wrote, especially "Why Does Software Cost So Much" is more about consulting and project management (as are several of the books on the original list)
Ed Tufte's stuff is also great: it's not about programming at all, it's about presenting the information in an understandable fashion, which is what programming ought to be about. If he comes to your town, you must hear him in person!
-- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com
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