Top 5 Books Every Developer Should Read in 2024

People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.— F. M. Alexander.

One of the best habits you can develop as a programmer is the habit of reading.

The reading habit will help you gain extensive knowledge in specific areas like coding, particularly programming. However, I don’t want you to limit yourself to only reading programming books because software development is not only about code.

These are five books that will enhance your life as a programmer:

Atomic Habits

The book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear talks about how the small things we do daily can make a big difference.

It says having a good routine with clear goals helps us stay on track.

The book gives simple steps to make good habits and shares examples and tips to set goals and make a routine that supports you in reaching your big dreams.

For programmers, habits are crucial. Building a routine of habits that aids continuous learning will give you an advantage over others. Use this book to make a routine that enhances your programming skills.

Every small habit adds up over time and yields significant results in your journey as a programmer.

Clean code

It will teach you how to write organized, understandable, and testable code.

The book focuses extensively on writing high-quality code, something you, as a programmer, should aspire to achieve. It encourages writing code of such excellence that other developers go ‘wow’ when they see it.

It guides you through best practices when naming variables, methods, classes, or functions in the programming language you use.

I found it immensely helpful when I learned Javascript a few years ago, and these practices can be applied to any programming language like Go, Python, Java, and more.

The book provides code examples and applies these best practices, showing how to enhance your code.

I highly recommend reading it and improving your code's quality.

The one thing

Productivity isn’t about spending the most hours working; it’s about achieving the highest results in the least amount of time.

This book shifts your perspective on what productivity truly means compared to traditional teachings.

For programmers, productivity is crucial. It’s not about spending the entire day coding without results but rather coding for the fewest possible hours while achieving significant outcomes.

The author emphasizes that multitasking is entirely ineffective. To achieve great results, one must focus on one task.

The book shares strategies for organizing your days, tips on goal-setting, and advice on thinking big while taking small steps.

Grokking Algorithms

A book with illustrations to learn data structures and algorithms.

It’s a book I recommend to programming beginners. However, if you’re already experienced, it’s still worth reading and revisiting the basics.

The book demonstrates the most commonly used data structures and illustrates how you can apply them in your programming language. It also introduces essential algorithms and their application in your code.

It’s an excellent book if you aim to learn data structures and algorithms.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Are you working all day on code and feeling there’s never enough time for other things you enjoy? This book is for you.

Focused on productivity, this book provides strategies to work less and achieve more — something every programmer should strive for. It teaches techniques like the Pareto Principle or Parkinson’s Law, which you can apply immediately upon reading.

The author shares their journey from working up to 15 hours to just 4 hours a day. It’s an excellent book if you aim to become a productive programmer or start your first startup.