The Developer’s Essential Reading List
Christmas holidays are not far ahead, and they are a great opportunity for every tech professional to do some catch-up on their reading.
Below, you will find a carefully curated selection of books that will give you precious knowledge, inspire you to think in bold, new directions or simply entertain you:
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master — Andrew Hunt & David Thomas
This book has been called a “classic” and “groundbreaking” and in the words of an enthusiastic Amazon reviewer:
“What exactly is this book about? It’s series articles containing tips that are meant for programmers who want to be effective and efficient, who program as a profession, who have project risks that need to be evaluated, team-members they need to work with, code that needs to meet quality standards, code that is maintained as legacy the moment it’s compiled and shipped, and it’s about considering your value as a programmer to the company and updating and grooming your skills to advance your career.”
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition — Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
Α near “mythical” book on software project management, “The Mythical Man-Month is a timeless collection of essays that will enrich your software engineering knowledge and provoke you to see the management of complex projects in a different light. After all, Fred Brooks really knows what he’s writing about; he has served as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system!
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship — Robert C. Martin
This book is not on the list just because it contains the word “Agile” on its title, but rather due to the fact that tech professionals all over the world cannot stop raving about it. And they are right to be since it is a definitive handbook on how to write clean code, i.e. code that easy to understand easy to change.
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software — Charles Petzold
John Somnez, author of “The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide” (another book for your list) has some really interesting things to say about “Code”:
“After reading this book, you’ll understand what the code you are writing is actually doing and how a CPU actually executes your code. This is both a fun and fascinating read.”
Working Effectively with Legacy Code — Michael C. Feathers
Michael Feathers offers start-to-finish strategies for working more effectively with large, untested legacy code bases. This book also includes a catalogue of twenty-four dependency-breaking techniques that help you work with program elements in isolation and make safer changes.
The Professional Product Owner: Leveraging Scrum as a Competitive Advantage — Don McGreal & Ralph Jocham
“This book presents a method of communicating our desires, cogently, coherently, and with a minimum of fuss and bother.” — Ken Schwaber, Chairman & Founder, Scrum.org
Logicomix: An epic search for truth — Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos Papadimitriou
This exceptional graphic novel recounts the spiritual odyssey of philosopher Bertrand Russell. In his agonized search for absolute truth, Russell crosses paths with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel, and finds a passionate student in the great Ludwig Wittgenstein. But his most ambitious goal -to establish unshakable logical foundations of mathematics — continues to loom before him. Through love and hate, peace and war, Russell persists in the dogged mission that threatens to claim both his career and his personal happiness, finally driving him to the brink of insanity.
For the last selection on our list, we are heading towards fiction territory to introduce you to one of the most compelling literary hackers (sorry, Lisbeth Salander). Hiro Protagonist, a pizza-delivery man for Uncle Enzo’s mafia (by day), and hacker-hero by night racing to take down a virus that’s burning his friends. This sprawling sci-fi epic by the legendary Neal Stephenson is a gripping page-turner that will capture your attention and let your imagination run wild.
