General IT Books? 379
Torulf would like to start an ongoing discussion on books that anyone in the IT field would benefit in having in their library: "Here's a topic that might generate some interesting discussions. I'm a student trying to get general knowledge of the IT business. The question here is about what is regarded 'basic knowledge' and where to find it. As we all know (I hope), a lot of knowledge can really only be learned through experience. In many cases, however, a read through the theory will save you a lot of time. As books are also easier to look up than experience, below is a suggestion of a reading list that might give a decent general knowledge in the field. Please fill out the gaps with what you think is required
knowledge for anyone working in the industry. Mostly this is about a general overview of the
different areas of the IT industry, but if you have suggestions of good material for becoming an expert in some particular field, by all means, share your knowledge." Torulf has compiled a fairly long list of books, below, however your own suggestions are always welcome.
"To start off the discussion, here are a few suggestions as to likely candidates. The
books are linked to Amazon since they can provide a fairly quick and complete description of the books online.
Programming:
Learning a few languages certainly won't hurt. Here are some suggestions:
- The C programming language
- The C++ programming language
- Programming Perl
- Programming Python
- A Book about Java
- A Book on SQL
- A Book about Functional languages (LISP, ML, etc.)
For any non-trivial task, it is suggested that you design before you code. User Interfaces:
A lot of programmers are more than clueless in this area. These at least won't hurt: Graphics:
Some general knowledge about graphics. Business/Management:
Here's something about management and financing. I don't really know about a good reference for marketing applied to the IT industry. This is the area where the average geek is even more ignorant than concerning UI. Security:
Alright, this list should be a lot longer. Misc.
And last some stuff that didn't fit in any of the categories above.
- Modern Operating Systems
- Computer Networks
- A few operating systems
- A book about markup languages, ie HTML, XML, DHTML, etc
- A book about Algorithms and Data Structures in general
- At least some basic knowledge about Hardware
- Wireless systems seem to be growing. It might pay off to learn something about Symbian, J2ME etc."
Now that's a start to a comprehensive IT Library if I've ever seen one. How do you all feel about this list (if not the specific selections, then at least the material being covered)? If you were to make changes or additions, what would they be?
For Graphics... (Score:2, Informative)
The one required book for programmers (Score:5, Informative)
This book gives the basic foundation of how to program instead of teaching you how to operate the latest GUI or how to generate the latest buzz-language. It should not be optional for any computer science curriculum.
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but I think Knuth's The Art Of Computer Programming is massively overrated as a general-purpose text. It's like that presentation edition of The Complete Works of Willy Wagglestick that sits on the shelf looking splendid and making you very proud that you own it, but never actually getting read.
For most purposes, a good book on basic data structures and algorithms is far more useful in the real world than Knuth's complex explanations with examples implemented in MIX. Maybe I just don't need the deep stuff behind it regularly, but if I don't then surely neither do most other professional programmers, and that pretty clearly contradicts the "essential" status. If it was a choice between making computer science students read TAOCP or making them read Sedgewick, then I'm sorry, but I'm choosing Sedgewick every time.
This is not to say Knuth's work doesn't have immense value as an authoritative academic treatise on its subject matter; clearly it does. But that's very different to calling it "absolutely essential" for just anyone.
And to preempt the obvious replies... Yes, I've read several bits of TAOCP. Yes, I do like other things Knuth has written (notably his TeX-related stuff). And no, I don't much like Numerical Recipes either, for exactly the same reasons.
Re:The one required book for programmers (Score:2, Informative)
"If you think you're a really good programmer,...read [Knuth's] Art of Computer Programming....You should definitely send me a resume if you can read the whole thing." -- Bill Gates
BofH books. (Score:5, Funny)
But seriously, I cannot immagine anyone learning the "basics" better than fiddling around with things, and learning how they work (by breaking them more likely than not).
Re:BofH books. (Score:4, Insightful)
But seriously, I cannot immagine anyone learning the "basics" better than fiddling around with things, and learning how they work (by breaking them more likely than not).
My thoughts exactly.
Find a crusty old 1995 vintage computer at a garage sale and force yourself to bring it to life where you can browse the internet, write a letter, print it out, and play your favorite CD. For good measure, read some files off a floppy created with an entirely different platform and application.
At that point you will have an inestimable education on what most everyday IT is really all about.
Re:BofH books. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:BofH books. (Score:3)
Much like reading books on cars and how to fix them doesn't make you a mechanic. You gotta get greasy!
Re:BofH books. (Score:2)
It will teach you a bit about your system and how to get it running Linux.
Note, I didn't say anything about Linux (even though I love it and run it all time:)
In fact, it's usually better to get that crusty old PC system with something like Win 9x.
Then, doing things for yourself teaches you how to get around the system, swim through the murk, teaches you how to find out things, how to change things or not change things, etc.
You're best prepared to answer
when you've already had some experience needing X to get Y done yourself (or even needing X_prime to get Y_prime done).Don't get me wrong - doing a Linux install will teach you a great many things and many things that will be of value in the IT industry. But it's more efficient to learn what the common problems are by imitating the common system with all its special crud and idiosyncracies.
Excellent Telecomm Book (Score:2, Interesting)
Thinking in Java (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Thinking in Java (Score:5, Informative)
-tim
Re:Thinking in Java (Score:2, Insightful)
But perhaps you can do it at work where the paper and toner is "free", uh wait a minite it is not really free it belongs to someone else, now there is a name for that.
Or you could just buy it and have something that looks good, is portable, readable, lendable and shelfable.
Non-Strict Languages (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Non-Strict Languages (Score:3, Informative)
I would add (Score:5, Insightful)
and
The Practice of System and Network Administration [amazon.com]
Re:I would add (Score:2)
Couple that with a nice book on network administration like those mentioned above or
Essential System Administration [amazon.com] from O'Reilly (also available in Windows flavor [amazon.com])
and you can give yourself a nice introduction to the IS side of things and make yourself much more useful at the helpdesk.
Re:I would add (Score:3, Insightful)
The sections on time management is saving my sanity as we speak
If you are a System Admin, or want to be one, run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore/site and get this book...
what are you still doing here?
Mandatory reading... (Score:3, Informative)
Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage [ucdavis.edu] by Dr. Norman Matloff.
If you still want to get into IT after reading that (warning: it's very long), then you can continue with the programming courses.
Nathan
Re:Mandatory reading... (Score:2)
What kind of consideration do HR persons, hiring for programmers, give to people who work on open-source software? How about persons who moonlight as consultants? Anyone know?
Re:Mandatory reading... (Score:2)
I guess what I'm asking is this: I'm working on one job, which doesn't eat up a lot of my resources and energy; in order to keep some of my skills sharp, I work on open-source software and do some moonlighting. Do the skills that I use to write OSS get considered if I put them on my resume? How about skills that I use while moonlighting?
And fyi, no, there isn't a regular job out there that matches my skill set better. I looked for a long time to find one, and I'm goddamn glad to get the one I have now instead.
more abstraction, please (Score:5, Informative)
Missing some math books (Score:2, Insightful)
Reading books is better (Score:3, Insightful)
My point is: pick something and get good at it. As you move to more complex projects, everything will come together and you will avoid the "why in hell did I learned that" feeling. Heck , my last project uses J2EE, PostgreSQL, a geographical information system, a graphic toolkit, some shells scripts and some C programs, plus the obvious OO design.
Networking (Score:4, Informative)
W. Richard Stevens: Tha Man (Score:3, Informative)
Knuth is the ONE (Score:2)
Indispensable...
Winton
RDBMS Section (Score:3, Informative)
Depending on interest you could lean towards administration/development/programming/etc.
.
Where is Knuth's books?!!! (Score:2)
SHELL & Pressman (Score:2)
And if you plan on interacting with management I highly recommend Pressman's "Software Engineering: A Practicioners Approach".
Depends on your definition of "IT" (Score:3, Insightful)
Linux Administration Handbook-Nemeth,Synder,Hein (Score:2, Informative)
Although it is a Unix book, because so many of the issues of modern IT (and especially networked systems) have already been addressed under Unix, even (particularly) an NT admin would benefit. I was referring someone to it for Serial communications information yesterday.
Newton's Telecommunications Dictionary, as mentioned by another poster is great too.
_TCP/IP Illustrated_ W. Richard Stevens
_Interconnections_ 2nd Ed. Radia Perlman
My Bookshelf (Score:5, Informative)
Unix Books
----------
*The Unix Programming Environment - Ker./Pike (Great book on the Tao of Unix)
*The Design of the Unix Operating System - ? (Good book on design and internals)
*The Design of the 4.4BSD Operating System - (The book the BSD folks rave about)
Hardware Books
--------------
*Upgrading and Repairing PCs - Scott Mueler (While kinda Windows centric, the PC Hardware bible)
Fun
---
*Mr. Bunny books - Some Guy III (Funny books make fun of Java and ActiveX)
*Programming Linux Games - Jon Hall (Good intro to Linux gaming, another fav)
Security - My specialty
--------
*Hackers Beware - a great book of stories from the trenches
*Hacking Exposed series - Great, up-to-date references on many platforms.
*Security Engeneering - The best book on comprehensive security design
*Know Your Enemy - The Honeynet Project (Great book on real hacking)
*Computer Security Basics (outdated, but still relivent. Not basic, though, by any measure)
*Applied Cryptography - Bruce Schiener (_The_ book about crypto)
*Secrets and Lies - Bruce Schiener (A management type book, but good)
Programming
-----------
*{Beginning, Professional} Linux Programming - Stones & Neal Somebody, et. al. (A good Wrox book that covers Perl, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, C, shell programming, etc.)
*The O'Reilly Perl Library - Written by the guys that write and maintain Perl. Nothing short of spectacular. Everything from Perl regex to cgi to bioinformatics to databases is covered.
*Applied Cryptography - Bruce Schiener (_The_ book about crypto)
*ANSI Standard Lisp - Haven't read it yet, but it looked good.
*The K&R book, ANSI and Classic - 'nuff said.
*The O'Reilly SQL book and database-specific books - Cover all the DBA knowledge anybody needs
Non-Technical
-------------
*Secrets and Lies - Bruce Schiener (A management type book, but good)
*C for Dummies - Gookin (See section placement)
*The Mr. Bunny Startup Game
Sysadmin
--------
*The Complete FreeBSD - A great fBSD book
*Linux: The Complete Reference - Another great sysadmin books
*The purple Unix book with the animals on the cover - The Sysadmin bible, if I could only remember the name
If someone could fill in the name and author holes, you'll be all set.
Re:My Bookshelf (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My Bookshelf (Score:2)
There is a Linux version [amazon.com] of this book, although it's outdated by now.
Essentials (Score:3, Informative)
Beyond that, I've found:
The Art of Computer Programming, Knuth
Internetworking with TCP/IP, Comer (3 vols.)
Operating Systems: Design and Implementation, Tannenbaum
these are essentials. Every other dog-eared book on my shelf is product or language specific, and thus, I would say, non-essential.
Knuth is your friend. (Score:3, Informative)
You missed what I consider the most important book. Actually, it's a set of three books. Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. I understand there's a fourth book in the works too, but I'm not sure. This piece of work is more important to IT (or whatever marketbabble it's called today) than any book on C or C++ or UML or whatever. Those are all a bunch of pesky details. Knuth's work is one of very few authoritative sources on anything related to the processing of information. I'd call it the Computer Programming Canon, and I think it should be required reading, even if you don't plan on doing any programming yourself. If you're in IT, you should understand the concepts.
Re:Knuth is your friend. (Score:2)
"Learning Python" better than "Programming Python" (Score:4, Informative)
Re:"Learning Python" better than "Programming Pyth (Score:2)
I have to agree with this in relation to "Learning Perl" over "Programming Perl". Yes, Programming Perl is a great book, but I find myself referring more and more to the examples in Learning Perl simply because the layout of the book is more logical.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi
Structured Computer Organization and compilers (Score:2)
Get "Structured Computer Organization" by A. Tanenbaum. It's a really good beginners book on how computers ACTUALLY work. No fancy stuff in it, just plain old basic knowledge of how it actually works, which is really necessary to truly understand what is going on. And some good book on how compilers really work - that way, you can far better grasp the reasons for lots of decisions made in the design of various compilers and programming languages. I find that I apply that knowledge pretty much *all the time*.
Anyway, just my DKK 0.17 worth...
Re:Structured Computer Organization and compilers (Score:2)
Re:Structured Computer Organization and compilers (Score:2)
Re:Structured Computer Organization and compilers (Score:2)
Oh! Pascal (Score:2)
Re:Oh! Pascal (Score:2)
And of course, there's always the Free Pascal [freepascal.org] compiler, which only supports some of the syntactical candy of Delphi/Kylix.
This guy... (Score:2, Funny)
the road ahead [roadahead.com]
Re:This guy... (Score:4, Funny)
Steve McConnell (Score:3, Interesting)
Dave
Web Developer Selection (Score:2)
Check out http://www.starvingmind.net/tech.php [starvingmind.net]
I am an amazon affilate. I'm love business and tech books, and have quite a collection of both. I'm am trying to build up a site that will make enough in sales on a regular basis to pay for site hosting on a real provider...right now it's on my cable modem.
A little project of mine. I plan to expand it into a much more complete site as time goes on. Kinda the slashdot for tech and business books. Has a long way to go, it's only been up three weeks, so don't be to hard on my lack of features and content yet.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to add them.
-Pete
A question (Score:2)
I only ask as i think it's a relevant point - some of the subjects and books you have posted are irrelevant to someone supporting Servers for example whilst the sort of books desktop support staff would need most are others - for example i have worked 10 years in IT support in roles ranging from SYS admin to IT manager and have never even picked up a book on software design or user interfaces...
If you support systems for a living things like hardwareand operating systems are more valuable than books on code, so maybe what we need is a definitive list of books by proffesiona class - IE programmer, support operator, web developer etc.
Still a damn good idea and a got me thinking.
Who Moved My Cheese and Dale Carnegie (Score:2)
People don't always associate compromise and complacency with business goals, as long as you're not losing sight of your values and recogize the greater good, then I think having a little of both will cut your levels of stress immensely.
The Practice of System and Network Administration (Score:2, Insightful)
Data Structures + Algorithms (Score:2)
= programs.
Wirth, IIRC.
> A book about Algorithms and Data Structures in general
Other than the business-oriented stuff, this is probably the most important pair of items on the list, not something to be lumped together with the odds-and-ends at the bottom.
This is the stuff that takes programmers from an intuitive approach to the extremes of well-informed effectiveness.
Also, it's not specific to any particular language, OS, or other technology that will be out of the limelight before you finish reading your booklist.
How about free books available online? (Score:5, Informative)
Let's turn this topic around a bit and collect links to free books that can be found on the net. My favourites are:
Re:How about free books available online? (Score:3, Informative)
Modern C++ Design (Score:5, Informative)
The ACLU voted this book best C++ book of 2001.
Michael Feathers of ObjectMentor described this book as "Porno for Programmers"
With accolades like that, it is obviously an, umm, ah, unusual, book.
Let me start with a "Once upon a time story...."
Once upon a time, I wrote a C++ library that should have become the Standard Template Library. But Stepanov didn't play fair. Whilst I, in my third worldish corner, dreamt up arcane workarounds for the deficiencies of the C++ compilers of the day, Stepanov walked next door to Bjarne Soustroup's office and told him to do it right.
I remember the frustration, I needed template template parameters. I needed traits, above all I needed ways of manipulating types and getting information about types. I did some amazingly convoluted and tricksy things to make it work. My library did work, but bygorrah was it arcane.
I gave up on C++ as an "almost" language that didn't quite make the grade.
After Stepanov's bullying, C++ was better but it still lacked things. RTTI is deficient. Types are not first-class objects.
I had given up hope of it ever becoming my dream language.
Now there is a new player on the C++ scene. Andrei Alexandrescu.
He is starting from the base that Stepanov, Moo and Soustroup created. The nifty template template stuff is now in every compiler. We all have partial specialization. We have traits.
Now he tackles the rest of the deficiencies with a bullheaded aggressiveness that is amazing. He does horrible things. Truly evil things. Things that make me blush to read. He then sweeps all the nasty stuff under a nifty carpet called the "Loki Library".
Its neat and usable. All the deficiencies of C++ are gone.
The grand promise of very efficient reusable generic code lies open before us with all the obstacles blasted away.
Java will never compete with C++ for efficiency and flexibility. Alexandrescu has created a new future.
Now we know this book is important, so what is in it....
Policy Based Class design.
Every design has trade-offs. What works in one situation is slow in another. What is safe here is a disaster there. Some situations allow some really good optimizations, but other places not.
We want reusable components, but if we make it generic, we end up with a "Lowest Common Denominator" kitchen sink mess.
Policy Based class design is the answer.
Read the chapter on Smart pointers. It is the best example of generic, flexible, efficient, reusuable design I have ever seen.
Part I Techniques and Typelists.
This is the "porn" in the "porno for programmers". What he does here is pure horror. This the Steven King of the software development literature. This is why people who have looked deep into the heart of C++ templates shudder.
But don't worry. He neatly prepackages it all and serves it up in a nice tidy API. Enjoy.
Chapter 4. Small Object Allocation.
Don't discount this one. STL actually quietly does a lot of this. It is amazingly effective.
Part II Components.
All the high-tech of Part one applied to roll out generic, efficient and flexible implementations of 7 standard patterns.
Re:How about free books available online? (Score:4, Informative)
Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in..." books [mindview.net]
Data Structures and Algorithms books [brpreiss.com]
MIT's Structure and Interpretation of Programming Languages [mit.edu]
Numerical Recipes series [ulib.org]
Handbook of Applied Cryptography [uwaterloo.ca]
The Art of Assembly Language Programming [ucr.edu]
Object-Oriented System Development [oswego.edu]
GTK+/Gnome Application Development [gnome.org]
GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool [redhat.com]
Effective Perl [effectiveperl.com] (partial)
Programming Pearls [bell-labs.com] (partial)
Re:How about free books available online? (Score:2)
Programming Pearls (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Programming Pearls (Score:2)
I'm glad someone finally got around to mention Bentley's books (Programming Pearls and More Programming Pearls). Among other things, they teach you that sitting down and thinking about the problem -- instead of diving right in and cranking out code -- is a useful skill.
Refactoring (Score:5, Insightful)
-Peace
Dave
_Refactoring_ (Score:2)
If Martin Fowler's Refactoring [refactoring.com] is not on your list, it should be added.
This book is changing the way people write code, and is up there with Knuth's books [stanford.edu], Kernighan and Ritchie [bell-labs.com], and Design Patterns [hillside.net] in terms of influence over software development.
For perspective on marketing, (Score:2)
But let's face it, if you want a general book to take the place of practical experience in the IT field, pick up one of the Dilbert collections.
More books (Score:2)
Compliers by Aho, Sethi & Ullman "The Dragon Book"
Information Rules by Shaprio & Varian, an IP/biz book
Learn some real hardware:
The Art of Electronics by Horowitz & Hill
Something about VHDL or Verilog
Also, get a free subscription to EE times
Peopleware (Score:2)
Amazon Links (Score:2)
Pragmatic Programmer (Score:4, Informative)
-Bill
Missing books (Score:2)
"UNIX Network Programming" Vols 1 & 2 by Richard Stevens
Compilers
"Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman (AKA the Dragon book)
sql (Score:2, Informative)
(but you still need your vendor's documentation, because no one really implements standard sql correctly.)
Abelson and Sussman (Score:4, Insightful)
Hard to believe no one has mentioned Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs [powells.com]. While Knuth is a great set of reference bibles, SICP is a perfect textbook. It's funny, well-written, incredibly comprehensive and appropriately mind-expanding. Work through all of the exercises in that book and you've got a solid grasp of programming fundamentals.
Chris
Rapid Development (Score:2, Insightful)
Accidental Empires by Robert X. Cringely (Score:4, Interesting)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi
Mastering Algorithms With Perl (Score:2)
The Plot to Get Bill Gates (Score:2)
A great collection of entertaining/insightful anecdotes about Bill Gates and the group of CEOs Nathan Myhrvold calls "Captain Ahab's Club" (Ray Noorda, Larry Ellison, Scott McNealy, Philippe Kahn, Jim Manzi, Marc Andreesen, et al) -- CEOs who are so consumed with taking down Gates they risk destroying their companies in the process.
If you're interested in the business end of IT, you're going to run into Microsoft eventually (the first question Silicon Valley venture capitalists ask aspiring entrepreneurs is usually something like "So what's to stop Microsoft from doing the same thing and putting you out of business?"). If you want to learn from the successes and failures of companies that took on Microsoft, this book is a must-read.
IT books of general interest (Score:4, Informative)
Soul of a new machine - Tracy Kidder [amazon.com] - inside the creation of the data general eagle mini comp - a great look at IT in the late 70's early 80's - considered a classic of tech writing
Fire in the Valley - Frieberger and Swaine [amazon.com] - Considered the definitive history of the PC revolution and silicon valley.
Infinite Loop - Micheal S Malone [amazon.com] a good look inside Apple computer - real insight into what went on behind the scenes
Hackers - Steven Levy [amazon.com] - the classic of computer tech writing - the reality of hackers and an insight into where open source came from
Free as in Freedom - Sam Williams [oreilly.com] - Fascinating look at RMS and what makes him tick, even someone who often disagrees with him(like me)found a new insight into him and the book is GPL and available in full online
Thats just a few with links for you - PS i also love the following books myself - theyre a great read for many reasons...
-The unix Haters Handbook (dont laugh - its a funny read and so much of this stuff still bugs me)
-Sluggy Freelance Books
-The Bastard Operator from hell books
-Underground - Sulette Davies (great book about hackers and available online if you lookat www.underground.com)
-Insanely Great and Crypto - Newer books by steven levy
-The Cathedral and the Bazzar - Eric Raymonds book on open source
-Takedown - The pursuit of Kevin mitnick (a bit biased but a good read) let me know your favourites ok.
IT book available ONLINE (Score:4, Interesting)
The description that I wrote for each of them is in spanish, but they are written in english. I've read all of them and I can assure you they are among the best.
Fh
Some I have found helpful/interesting (Score:2)
- A couple of Data Structures books are essential. Mine is Weiss' "Data Structures and Problem Solving" and "Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis", available "in" different languages (C++, Java, at least).
I think they're great, but then again, I took that class with Weiss and the book was heavily recommended anyway. I'm sure there are other outstanding books out there I don't know about.
- An Operating Systems book is essential. I have the "Dinosaur book", however it's called. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I heard good things of Tannenbaun's "Modern Operating Systems" and it's on my buy list, but unless you're in OS development only one competent book is necessary.
- A hardware book is essential. Tannenbaun's "Structured Computer Organization", for example.
- An SQL reference is essential, and a good theoretical introduction to relational calculus as well. For the first, almost any decent SQL reference is good enough (O'reilly has a bunch of PL/SQL books) and some "Enterprise" references include 80% of what you'll ever need in some appendix. For the second, you need a good database class.
But the point is that SQL is not exactly "programming", although it may be hard to explain to someone who's not a programmer (HR departments included). It's relational calculus, which deserves a whole category by itself, and solves different problems than what we normally call programming.
In Design:
- "Design Patterns" by the GoF. It's essential. Even if you don't get into the hype of Patterns, a student will learn a lot of neat solutions to complex problems without stumbling his/her way through at first. Which, incidentally, is what the hype of Design patterns is all about.
- "Refactoring" by Martin Fowler.
Refactoring is not yet another experimental methodology, it's something we will probably do sooner or later, and doing it sooner and having a methodology just makes life that much easier. This book is great.
In Programming:
- "Thinking in *" by Bruce Eckel, where * is whatever language you want to learn.
Not only is it free, and online, I think it's one of the best series of introductory books I have read. I learned Java with it and found it the only reference for the core language that I needed... my college's required book (Dietel & Dietel) is still collecting dust.
I keep both the Java and C++ versions as references on my hard disk, and plan to learn Python from "Thinking in Python" at some point.
I recommend these because they're good "learning to program" books. Having a basic reference for each language your using is essential, but every student should have a good "basic programming" reference, whatever the language it uses. They're two different kinds of books, the latter is harder to find.
- "Programming in SML" by Robert Harper. There should be at least one functional programming book in the student's bookshelf. You may want a theory-oriented book too, but I think a practical manual for the language and lots of experimentation are what is essential to grasp the concept, SML is a good choice, and Harper's book is a great reference. It will help anyone to develop better in any modern language.
Things that are useful but should not be considered essential:
- Wireless books. Useful if you're interested in the subject, but not essential and a bit too specialized for "basic knowledge". For the interested student it is vital, but for the typical student it will not make a difference.
- Graphics: same as above.
- "Mastering Regular Expressions" (O'Reilly). Regex can save a lot of programming time and provide simple solutions for some common needs.
- For J2EE and web-development references, "Web Development with Java Server Pages" (Manning editorial) is my favorite book in the subject, with "Server Progamming in Java" (Manning again) for heavier, more general stuff and "Core Servlets" (Sun) for reference.
But that's only if that's of interest to the student. I would recommend getting familiar with the concepts, but it would only be part of the "core library" if it's part of what they want to do.
- Cryptography: "Applied Cryptography" is the book to get. But for most people it's an obscure subject and should be dealt with as a black box. Too specialized to be considered "basic".
A good security book should cover all that really matters in the application of cryptography (when to use it and how) anyway.
Egg in Kernighan and Ritchie (Score:2)
If you are bored, pick up your copy of Kernighan and Ritchie and look up "recursion" in the index. Okay, I know it's lame. But I found it at eeggs.com [eeggs.com] which is kind of a cool website, if you like that sort of thing.
What is IT? (Score:2, Insightful)
Seems to me that "IT" is a much broader subject than what is suggested by this list, and that an "IT Professional" is much more than a programmer. To me, an IT Professional is someone who can walk into a business, assess their situation and needs, recommend a solution, and see through the implementation of that solution.
This obviously requires solid programming skills, but it also requires real business knowledge, finance, operations, knowledge of the IT industry, people skills. Let alone software and hardware architecture.
The fact is, that code is becoming largely a commodity. A growing percentage of business problems can be solved more cheaply using off-the-shelf components. So "implementing a solution" is more and more a matter of tying together pieces.
What becomes valuable and in demand, then, is your integration skills, your knowledge of business needs, your experience dealing with vendors, and your ability to nurture your customer relationships.
So I would conclude that yes, it's critical to have a solid tech background, and all that stuff should be on your bookshelf, but you really need to succeed as an IT Professional is a global view of the IT Industry and its relationship to business.
What I'd like to see added to the list is recommendations of books that would help one achieve this sort of perspective.
The best basic Java book... (Score:2)
Plenty of advice, very little knowledge. (Score:2)
I've just tossed in the towel and bought a dog grooming salon.
High-tech businesses and their (mis)managers?
Fuck 'em where they breathe.
A less than satisfied high-tech struggler in the trenches. Make that an EX high-tech struggler in the trenches.
I'll keep reading
John Lakos: Large Scale C++ Software Design (Score:3, Informative)
While of course much of it is C++ specific, there is a great deal of information that applies to nearly any language. Most notable are his discussions of analyzing dependencies, and extensive discussion on resolving circular dependencies, and software "Design for Testability" (Unit Testing discussed much earlier than eXtreme Programming came along, as well as "White Box" testing.)
Lakos used to work for Mentor Graphics, an electronic CAD software vendor. Mentor was one of the first companies to adopt C++ for the development of large production systems back in the 80's, and their first attempts were collosal disasters. But surprisingly they didn't give up, instead they worked out a detailed methodology for doing successful and productive C++ development.
It has helped me immensely in my work, and I am on a quiet campaign to get all of my client's programmers to read it.
My page Avoiding Unnecessary Header File Inclusion [goingware.com] is based on the ideas in Lakos book, if you want a detailed example of why this is worthwhile reading. (That part is C++ specific, though.)
About dependencies:
A well-designed program will have a "dependency graph" that has no cycles in it. This allows components of the programs to stand on their own, depending on at most a few other modules. This aids comprehension by developers, and also aids testing.
What this means is that many components of a program will depend either on nothing else at all, or at most on standard libraries. Then at the next level up, there will be some components that depend only on the components at the first level or the zeroth level (the standard libraries). You can continue up this way, with components depending only on levels below them.
This aids both reusability and unit testing. Reusability because a component can be taken elsewhere and only requires the few components it depends on to work, and unit testing because you can build test executables by linking in only a few dependencies. It also aids testing because you can be sure a component is tested if you have a test for the component directly, and tests for each of its dependencies.
Poorly designed (and all-too-common) programs have dependency cycles. That is, the graph of module dependencies is not acycling, and you cannot link a module in its own test harness without taking a lot of junk with it. Maybe it even requires the entire program. Really bad programs will have a great many cycles in their dependency graphs.
There are quite a few techniques for managing these dependencies, a few C++ specific but many of them language-independent. Lakos catalogs many of them.
About unit testing:
Probably most people here are at least passingly familiar with unit testing. But Lakos has a strategy for making the effort to write tests manageble while still getting good test coverage.
First, you "levelize" your program (that is, create an acyclic dependency graph for your program).
Then, for each module, you make the assumption that the dependencies are already tested, and write the test for the module itself so that it only intentionally tests the code which is actually part of the module under test. You don't try to test the dependencies "through" a module that is at a layer above them.
This makes the amount of test code scale linearly with the number of modules, and also moderates the requirements for the effort a test must make.
While complete test coverage requires a unit test for each module, it is not really necessary to write the tests for the lowest levels first (although that is probably the best strategy).
In an automated test run, though, one should generally run the lowest level tests first.
Finally, Lakos discusses how one could write automated tools for doing dependency analysis. One can do this for C++ by basing it on Open Source tools like mkdep.
Please Link to ACCU Book Reviews Section (Score:5, Informative)
The ACCU makes review copies of books available to its members for free, and then the members write reviews that are printed first in the members' magazines, and then archived on the web for all to see. Because these reviews are written by working engineers, they tend to be pretty direct, to the point, and best of all they make it really clear when they recommend against a bad book.
To save you some clicking, here are some links to some of its sections:
The ACCU welcomes programmers in "any language the uses curly braces" (like C# and Java) and the reviews cover books on a wide variety of subjects, even awk and astronomy, so do check there even if your book is not on C or C++.
some reviews (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Slashvertisements (Score:3, Insightful)
Gee, am I out of the loop. I didn't get the official authorized vendor list. Guess you're cooler than me.
Re:The Practice of System and Network Administrati (Score:2)
by Bruce Schneier
A must for every PHB, this book gives a good overview of network security from a systems design standpoint.
The ultimate compliment to his other book about encryption algorithms. I find "Secrets and Lies" to be an ejoyable read. Not much of a reference, though, so give it to your PHB when you are finished reading it.
Re:Amazon Affiliate Links (Score:2)
gotta give him credit for creative thinking though, thats more views than most affiliates can get in a year!
Re:Amazon Affiliate Links (Score:2)
Lame addition (Score:2)
They all have that (Score:2)
My guess is that these links have nothing to do with the guy who posted it, but have more to do with how amazon.com implemented their web site and searching.
Re:They all have that (Score:2)
anyways my opinion of the whole situation was that it ws a pretty creative way to get views if thats what he did, dont know that its what happened but i still give the guy props if he did pull that off
Re:Amazon Affiliate Links (Score:2)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/
The link from going to it manually without any Amazon cookies:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/
Those different numbers _could_ be referral stuff, but most likely it's just some random transaction ID.
No conspiracy here, move along!
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
eye-strain
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
Actually, I disagree with this as well. I dont know why, but reading electronic books is much easier on me. I have never had any probelms with eye strain, but if I read a dead-tree edition of anything, I have a ba dhabit of leaning on one side far too long. this gets me neck cramps etc etc.
If I had my way, every single university textbook I have bought would have been in electronic format. Not only do I find it easier to read, but you also get benefits like searching, etc. And if you need a more portable version of a section, you can always print a chapter or two.
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
There is this remarkable device called a printer. I hear it is quite usefull for these applications. Maybe you should look into it.
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
:-)
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
Name one circumstance in which I would need to have more than one chapter printed off (for bathroom reading?) and I'll conceed. Seriously, if you ar eon a plane and nee done of these books its cause you're coding on your laptop. And if you have your laptop then you have access to the material electorniclly. SO whats the point?
Re:Dead Tree = Useless (Score:2)
Once you have your BCS and know the basics of coding, just about everything under the sun is a "little question" or "quick howto". All I need to get a handle on a new language or technology is a short tutorial, an example, a link to the reference documentation, and a day or two. Sitting down and reading through a book for 8-12 hours is a waste of time I could be using actually learning the technology hands-on. The only real way to learn is by getting your feet wet.
Re:Java Book (Score:2)