Best Reference Site For Each Programming Language?

Howling writes "I've been a PHP programmer for a few years and after taking a trip through many sites Ive learned that www.php.net is probably the most complete source when looking for information/documentation. I have been trying to find similar sites for every other language (Java, perl or ASP, for instance) without equal success, though. I ask: what is the best documentation/reference site for your preferred programming language?"

Scheme

[klutometis (1123525)]

If it's scheme [wikipedia.org] you're looking for, there's R5RS [schemers.org] and the SRFIs [schemers.org]; also, don't forget the world's possibly best-written programming book: SICP [mit.edu].

Re:Scheme

[c0nman (573940)]

Quick Ref [quickref.org]
QuickRef currently includes: C, C++, CSS, HTML, HTML DOM, Java, JavaScript, MySQL, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby

Re:Scheme

[by Anonymous Coward]

gotapi [gotapi.com] currently includes many many more and has a nice ajaxy interface.

Re:gExp

[zobier (585066)]

http://www.regular-expressions.info/ [regular-expressions.info]

I'll just leave this here.

Re:Scheme

[halfnerd (553515)]

Would you actually rather read the pdf, which can't be reflowed, instead of html, which can be reflowed, if both would be available as a single file download?

At least on mobile devices such as the Nokia N810 I prefer reflowable formats. Actually I prefer them on the desktop also.

Perl and Python

[mangu (126918)]

cpan.org and python.org

Re:Perl and Python

[SatanicPuppy (611928)]

Agreed. I'd also add Perlmonks.org [perlmonks.org]; it's not documentation per se but it's damn useful.

For java, you have to master the API [sun.com]...Even modules that other people write are often documented with javadoc, and look just the same. Once you use it for a while it becomes familiar.

Re:Perl and Python

[mangu (126918)]

The funny thing is that for some 20 years, before I started using Python, my favorite and almost only language was C, and I don't know of any really good site for C.

However, I do know of a really good author, that is a "dead tree" author, for C: Herbert Schildt. I would recommend these [amazon.com]. Any of them. Well, just kidding, I haven't read them all, I doubt anyone has, but I bet they are all good.

My favorite is his book on artificial intelligence [amazon.com]. It's out of print now, but it was one of the reasons why C was my favorite language for about 20 years, and it still would be if Python hadn't come out.

Re:Perl and Python

[by Anonymous Coward]

C was my favorite language for about 20 years, and it still would be if Python hadn't come out.

You know this of course, but I thought I'd mention that your C experience isn't wasted as a Python programmer. The cycle: design in Python => profile => redo bottlenecks in C, is the basis of industrial strength Python application.

Re:Perl and Python

[Bogtha (906264)]

However, I do know of a really good author, that is a "dead tree" author, for C: Herbert Schildt.

I used to recommend his books too, but he has a bad reputation [faqs.org] among many developers:

Why do many experts not think very highly of Herbert Schildt's books?

A good answer to this question could fill a book by itself. While no book is perfect, Schildt's books, in the opinion of many gurus, seem to positively aim to mislead learners and encourage bad habits. Schildt's beautifully clear writing style only makes things worse by causing many "satisfied" learners to recommend his books to other learners.

Do take a look at the following scathing articles before deciding to buy a Schildt text.
http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/schildt.html [lysator.liu.se]
http://herd.plethora.net/~seebs/c/c_tcr.html [plethora.net]

The above reviews are admittedly based on two of Schildt's older books. However, the language they describe has not changed in the intervening period, and several books written at around the same time remain highly regarded.

The following humorous post also illustrates the general feeling towards Schildt and his books.

http://www.qnx.com/~glen/deadbeef/2764.html [qnx.com]

There is exactly one and ONLY one C book bearing Schildt's name on its cover that is at all recommended by many C experts - see Q 25.

Re:Perl and Python

[Schlage (195535)]

...undecidedly positive.

I don't think this means what you think it means.

Re:Perl and Python

[Praedon (707326)]

Yep, those are good too.. but I'd also add something that was basically born from Slashdot, it's Rosetta Code [rosettacode.org] For common solutions with multiple code for different programming environments.

Re:Perl and Python

[mr_mischief (456295)]

perldoc.perl.org [perl.org]

use Perl; [perl.org] comes high on the list, along with PerlMonks [perlmonks.org] and PerlBuzz [perlbuzz.com].

Perl.org [perl.org] in general gets points for being where you can find Use, perldoc, and more.

Java.sun.com

[acon1modm (1009947)]

just google: java X class where X is whatever you want. Top results will be sun java docs which are complete and have links to parent and descendent classes, implemented interfaces, etc.

Re:Java.sun.com

[Vectronic (1221470)]

http://java.sun.com/reference/ [sun.com]

Samples, API, Docs, Tutorials, etc.
(redudndant, but people usually like links)

Re:Java.sun.com

[Reverend528 (585549)]

There is also the Java Forums [sun.com] which is a great place to ask people to do your intro CS homework and get flamed.

Re:Java.sun.com

[B4D BE4T (879239)]

I agree. I have been using Java for a while now and have always found the information I needed at java.sun.com [sun.com]. Just about anything you could want to know about Java can be found in the reference section [sun.com]. The API section [sun.com] has all of the classes listed alphabetically for the more recent versions of Java with a fairly detailed description of each class and its methods.

FYI

[by Anonymous Coward]

If you use Eclipse you can configure the javadoc URL in your JDK configuration and pull up the pages from within the IDE. VERY handy.

ASP

[by Anonymous Coward]

for asp: asp.net. has very good tutorials. for reference use msdn library.

Here's what I do

[shellster_dude (1261444)]

php: php.net
coldfusion: adobe.com
html, css, javascript, sql: w3schools.com
python: python.org
c/c++: devshed.com
java: java.sun.com

Anything else: my brilliant co-worker.

Re:Here's what I do

[MrMunkey (1039894)]

For JavaScript I head over to

developer.mozilla.org

It's pretty clear, but unfortunately you still have to watch out for browser incompatibilities. They sometimes will have a note about it though.

Re:Here's what I do

[apathy maybe (922212)]

html, css, javascript, sql: w3schools.com

Why oh why would you go to w3schools (ad filled piece of shit), when you go directly to the source for all the HTML and CSS requirements?

For example, want to learn HTML?
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/ [w3.org]
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/Advanced.html [w3.org]

Already know HTML but want to do one thing (or can't remember the exact syntax?)?
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/ [w3.org]

Do a search through the HTML 4.01 Specification [w3.org].
Similarly for XHTML [w3.org].

CSS tips and tricks [w3.org]? You got them all.

Just learning? Get started with HTML and CSS [w3.org]. Other CSS resources [w3.org] all also easily available.

Oh right, and don't forget the authoritative text [w3.org]...

Basically, for HTML and CSS, it is much better for both beginners and advanced users to go to the W3C rather then the ad filled crap w3schools.

Tcl -- use the Wikibook

[Xcott Craver (615642)]

One of the best tutorials and references for Tcl is the Wikibook [wikibooks.org] on Tcl programming.

Indeed, it's one of the best programming texts I've seen in any language.

Object Pascal and C

[jmpeax (936370)]

Object Pascal reference [freepascal.org] & C reference [uiuc.edu].

Suggestions for perl

[howlinmonkey (548055)]

Documentation: peldoc.perl.org
Community: perlmonks.org
Articles: www.perl.com (O'Reilly site)

I have found the perl community to be the most open, supportive and cohesive group of all the languages I work with. Right now I am working with PHP, perl and C#, and perl is by far the easiest language to get help and correct information. I can find tons of info on the other languages, but the information isn't always the best quality.

Good luck with your search.

For all languages

[Korbeau (913903)]

experts-exchange.com

*ducks*

Re:For all languages

[nog_lorp (896553)]

answers.yahoo.com

*geese*

Re:For all languages

[mr_mischief (456295)]

ask.slashdot.org

*swans*

Re:For all languages

[bakes (87194)]

www.youporn.com

*swallows*

Re:For all languages

[Junior J. Junior III (192702)]

goatse.cx

*ewe*

Re:For all languages

[William-Ely (875237)]

I use http://lolcode.com/examples [lolcode.com] for all my LOLCODE programs.

C/C++

[Kuraitou (1366125)]

http://cprogramming.com/ [cprogramming.com] - best site for beginners in my opinion.

Re:C/C++

[nog_lorp (896553)]

www.cplusplus.com

Beats the hell out of man pages for the POSIX C libraries.

Re:C/C++

[Simon80 (874052)]

Standard Template Library:

• SGI reference [sgi.com] - readable, comes with informative explanations of concepts
• libstdc++ reference [gnu.org] - less readable, but it may have some non-standard things that aren't in the SGI docs, useful if you're using libstd++

Boost libraries [boost.org]:
For anything not present in the standard library, these are the next place to check. They're freely usable in commercial projects.

stack overflow question

[fragbait (209346)]

Perhaps this a question for Stack Overflow [stackoverflow.com]?

-fragbait

PHP.net is great.

[nog_lorp (896553)]

PHP has probably the best documentation of an language thanks to PHP.net. It is really wonderful, everyone should follow their lead.

Re:PHP.net is great.

[Maian (887886)]

I don't know. I've recently had to use PHP for something, and I've been struggling to find out the performance of each function. For example, the php.net articles on count()/sizeof() functions on an array tell me nothing of whether it's O(1) or O(n). PHP really strikes me as a programming language for non-CS majors.

C: K&R.

[proidiot (747008)]

For C, use the most holy book:
K&R
(aka "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie, http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/ [bell-labs.com])

Re:C: K&R.

[mr_mischief (456295)]

Make sure to use the second edition, which covers ANSI C (which is practically ISO C89).

Re:C: K&R.

[raddan (519638)]

K&R style, maybe. But it's still useful to have your code wrap to some consistent length-- there's nothing worse than reading someone else's shitty 200-column-wide code in a terminal. There are LOTS of terminals still in use. Not to mention (I don't remember where I heard this-- Oualline's book?), if you can't fit a function call in 80 columns, you might want to rethink about what you're doing. There's probably a better, simpler way.

But style aside, the content of the book is classic, especially when you start getting into systems programming. These guys had the logical structure of a good computer system worked out a long time ago! Considering that the UNIX C API was basically the first draft of POSIX, reading this book is a must if you ever want to play with the low-level (aka, fun) parts of your operating system. This book almost never leaves my desk, even though I do most of my work in Perl and PHP nowadays.

I love C because it is a sparse programming language that is very expressive, mainly due to pointers. That has a big influence on my code in other languages, for better or worse. But I find C to be very readable, and I try to do the same for other programs. A lot of "modern" languages just look like barf to me, but I'm probably biased.

Your language is too bloated

[Waffle Iron (339739)]

... if the complete reference can't be included inline in a /. post. Here's all you need to know:

    > increment the pointer (to point to the next cell to the right).

    < decrement the pointer (to point to the next cell to the left).

    + increment (increase by one) the byte at the pointer.

    - decrement (decrease by one) the byte at the pointer.

    . output the value of the byte at the pointer.

    , accept one byte of input, storing its value in the byte at the pointer.

    [ jump forward to the command after the corresponding ] if the byte at the pointer is zero.

    ] jump back to the command after the corresponding [ if the byte at the pointer is nonzero.

www.gotapi.com

[YutakaFrog (1074731)]

http://www.gotapi.com/ [gotapi.com] It's got all the good reference sites in one. You click the reference site, it adds a tab to the gotAPI webpage. It has a really good search box. No signup required. Best all-in-one reference ever.

Other languages

[poopie (35416)]

SNOBOL - http://www.snobol4.org/ [snobol4.org]

Logo - http://el.media.mit.edu/Logo-foundation/logo/programming.html [mit.edu]

FORTH - http://www.phact.org/e/forth.htm [phact.org]

Prolog - http://www.logic.at/prolog/faq/faq.html [logic.at]

Algol - http://www.algol68.org/ [algol68.org]

Lucid - http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Lucid [haskell.org]

PL/I - http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/resource.htm [bigpond.com]

Dear programming languages:

[rs79 (71822)]

Hi there all you programming langauges. I've called you all here because we need to talk. There's some things I need to get off my chest.

SNOBOL

If the world revolved around writing backgammon games, baby, you'd be the end all be all. But you're bloody useless at anything else. You're pretty but uselss.

Logo

You wear me out. I have to tell you to do everything.

FORTH

DARLING I MISS YOU. Where are you?

Prolog

You look good on paper, but you scare me. Remember that time in Beverly Hills? You have some very odd friends. And what's with the pink ties?

Algol

Oh algol. We had some great times together. But there is life after college, really.

Lucid

Lucid: you aren't. You should have been called "heroin".

PL/I - http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/resource.htm [bigpond.com]

PL/I you are the perfect ex langauge. There's nothing to like about you and I don't miss you. Hell I don't even remember you that well any more. You're so damn difficult even your name cant be used in a URL because you screw that up. Put skip THIS, bitch.

Forth come back! All is forgiven. Let's just you and me go someplace and dup dup dup. Or was that postscript. No no, she's just a friend.

Aww dammit. Forth? Honey?

Missing Cowboy Neal option

[Drishmung (458368)]

you insensitive clod!!

Parashift

[D Ninja (825055)]

C++ FAQ Lite [parashift.com] is an excellent site for C++ information.

Lua

[Samah (729132)]

Lua:
Official website: http://www.lua.org/ [lua.org]
Direct link to manual: http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/ [lua.org]
Lua community: http://lua-users.org/wiki/ [lua-users.org]

Most popular languages are at Wikibooks

[Orion Blastar (457579)]

Wikibooks [wikibooks.org] because if it isn't already there, someone will eventually write one and make it open sourced.

I invite Slashdot readers and posters to write their own ebooks at Wikibooks in an open source license.

Ruby

[SanityInAnarchy (655584)]

The official site is always a good bet. But I also make it a habit to memorize the url to the rdoc of whatever I'm doing:

ruby-doc.org/core [ruby-doc.org]
api.rubyonrails.org [rubyonrails.org]

Beyond that, it's more about the framework. For example:

ramaze.net [ramaze.net]
sequel.rubyforge.org [slashdot.org]

Beyond that, there's the source (and IRB + tab-completion), and for the really tough questions, the ruby-talk mailing list.

Can't really recommend the jQuery docs, as they're down half the time, the UI is lacking some critical features, and it doesn't seem to quite work in Konqueror. For a library claiming to be cross-browser, you should at least have your docs be cross-browser!

scissors beats paper, paper beats the internet

[OrangeTide (124937)]

I think you misinterpreted the tongue-in-cheek language.

I don't know the reason why some languages (like C) have little online presence. There is comp.lang.c on usenet and the comp.lang.c FAQ. And a couple of online versions of man pages, but it's hard to learn C from man pages alone. And there is the C89/C99 specs, but I don't think that's a great way to learn C either. If you ignore usenet (most people do), I would venture to say there is basically nothing good about C online.

Compared to the books you can get that cover C programming, ones on algorithms, data structures, C itself, and various APIs. The web seems vastly inferior. I'm not trying to claim I know the reason why, I'm just pointing out that this is currently the case. Currently paper is better than electrons for SOME languages.