Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I know I'm a couple of days late, but no mention of SICP? http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ I think if I only had one programming related book I was allowed to own it would be this one. It's scheme of course, but it's definitely not tied to a specific technology or language, and if you don't already know a lisp it's definitely worth learning one on the way. It is one of those books of seemingly infinite depth where you can always pick it up and have a incredible amount to learn from it. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:code4...@listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Nick Ruest Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 3:12 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation If you are into the history of how it all came about, The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal is a good read. It is a little dense at times, but well worth the read. ISBN: 014200135X -nruest On Sep 9, 2009, at 4:15 PM, Jon Gorman wrote: For those who enjoyed The Mythical Man-Month I'd also recommend Peopleware (not the software, the book ;) ). Jon On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 2:58 PM, stuart yeatesstuart.yea...@vuw.ac.nz wrote: I can't speak highly enough about The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks (1975). Let's just say that when they issued the 20th anniversary edition, they didn't need to update the examples in the text. cheers stuart Sharon Foster wrote: From my software engineering days, I like Steve McConnell's Code Complete and Software Project Survival Guide; The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks; Joel On Software by Joel Spolsky (who also has a blog); and The Elements of Programming Style, by Kernigan and Plauger. KR is directed at the C programming language, but there are enough similarities in syntax with PHP, Java, and a lot of other web developer languages that I think it's still relevant. Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS Technology Librarian http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/ On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Foxrf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame -- Stuart Yeates http://www.nzetc.org/ New Zealand Electronic Text Centre http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/ Institutional Repository Nick Ruest Digital Strategies Librarian McMaster University Mills Memorial Library 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, ON L8S 4L6 Phone: 905.525.9140 ext. 21276 Email: rue...@mcmaster.ca http://library.mcmaster.ca/contact/ruest-nicholas http://nruest.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/ Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a personal process embedded in the human spirit. - Abbie Hoffman
[CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
Hi, Robert. I highly recommend both The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master (http://www.pragprog.com/titles/tpp/the-pragmatic-programmer) and Practices of an Agile Developer (http://www.pragprog.com/titles/pad/practices-of-an-agile-developer ). I found both of these books to be the best distilled wisdom about best practices, problem solving, good habits, and developer mindset I've ever encountered. Bess Elizabeth (Bess) Sadler Chief Architect for the Online Library Environment Box 400129 Alderman Library University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 b...@virginia.edu (434) 243-2305 On 9-Sep-09, at 12:12 PM, Robert Fox wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
From my software engineering days, I like Steve McConnell's Code Complete and Software Project Survival Guide; The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks; Joel On Software by Joel Spolsky (who also has a blog); and The Elements of Programming Style, by Kernigan and Plauger. KR is directed at the C programming language, but there are enough similarities in syntax with PHP, Java, and a lot of other web developer languages that I think it's still relevant. Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS Technology Librarian http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/ On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Foxrf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I haven't read it yet, but Coders at Work is getting a lot of good press. Here's a slashdot review (http://books.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1331233/Coders-At-Work). They interview a bunch of 'famous' coders who talk about their craft. joe On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:12 AM, Robert Foxrf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame -- Live to the point of tears Camus http://neolib.wordpress.com Twitter: joesmorgan
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I am a big fan of the original Design Patterns book, myself. http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Object-Oriented/dp/0201633612 But just reading the book alone won't do as much as reading the book AND working with code that is written using the lessons of the book. The best way to learn good code design and architecture is to work with code someone already wrote (open source, libraries, frameworks, etc) that uses good design and architecture. Jonathan Robert Fox wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I'd second pretty much every suggestion I've seen so far and add one Refactoring by Fowler. It's only really useful if you've had some design experience, but Some of the others that I really highly recommend would be The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master. I'm of mixed feelings on Code Complete. A lot of the material I've heard better elsewhere, but I can't think of anywhere else so much material is brought together. I'd say read it but then chase down some of the citations. Some good reads but not necessarily great ones that come to mind also are: Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software, A bit long for pretty much a common-sense point, which is log stuff, keep heartbeats going, and the like. Agile modeling: effective practices for eXtreme programming ... been a while since I've read this one, but it seemed a good intro. One of those books if I had too much money I'd probably purchase. Dreaming in Code. An amusing account of software development from a reporter's perspective of some aspects of a netscape calendar project(not quite right, but that's as close as my hazy memory will get). I've heard good things about Beautiful Code but haven't read it yet. If you wanted to step away a little from actual software, I'd say Donald Norman's various books are really good for ideas about usability. Lighter fare also includes Stephen Levy's books, some of Rheingold's stuff although that is a bit outdated, What the Doormouse said., IWoz, Where the Wizards Stay Up Late. I'm sure I'm missing some of the light and quick reading of computer culture, but that's plenty to get started. At some point today I'll have to figure out what books others have suggested that I still need to read (or request one of the various libraries I'm associate with purchase). Thanks for bringing up this thread ;). Jon
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
The best way to learn good code design and architecture is to work with code someone already wrote (open source, libraries, frameworks, etc) that uses good design and architecture. Or having to debug code that someone else wrote that *wasn't* written well. It's one thing to learn the good practices, but it's quite another to understand WHY good code is good and bad code is bad. Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS Technology Librarian http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/ On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:57 PM, Jonathan Rochkindrochk...@jhu.edu wrote: I am a big fan of the original Design Patterns book, myself. http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Object-Oriented/dp/0201633612 But just reading the book alone won't do as much as reading the book AND working with code that is written using the lessons of the book. The best way to learn good code design and architecture is to work with code someone already wrote (open source, libraries, frameworks, etc) that uses good design and architecture. Jonathan Robert Fox wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I haven't read any of them yet, but O'Reilly has a new series of books that might be of interest. They all have titles like Beautiful Teams, Beautiful Architecture, Beautiful Data, Beautiful Testing, etc. Maybe someone else has read one and can comment on their usefulness? Keith On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Fox rf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
I learned quite a few useful abstracts from Eric Raymond's The Art of UNIX Programming, which is also available as a free ebook at http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ - Much is UNIX-centric, but some good general philosophy in there about coding practice and mindset. I'm currently reading and enjoying Shore and Warden's The Art of Agile Development - http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527679/ - most useful if you're interested in Agile approach and specifically in Extreme Programming methods. Alan Harnum Web Librarian Toronto Public Library Web Team ahar...@torontopubliclibrary.ca Robert Fox rf...@nd.edu 09/09/2009 12:12 pm Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jon Gormanjonathan.gor...@gmail.com wrote: I'd second pretty much every suggestion I've seen so far and add one Refactoring by Fowler. It's only really useful if you've had some design experience, but Odd, not sure what happened there. But what I meant to say, but I think it can be useful for anyone who's just starting out learning object-orientated design or design patterns.. Jon
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
The best way to learn good code design and architecture is to work with code someone already wrote (open source, libraries, frameworks, etc) that uses good design and architecture. Or having to debug code that someone else wrote that *wasn't* written well. It's one thing to learn the good practices, but it's quite another to understand WHY good code is good and bad code is bad. Especially when you authored the garbage in question. The best way appreciate and remember good methods is to totally screw yourself over. Reading well written books is a good idea, but the lessons just don't stick quite as well kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
For those who enjoyed The Mythical Man-Month I'd also recommend Peopleware (not the software, the book ;) ). Jon On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 2:58 PM, stuart yeatesstuart.yea...@vuw.ac.nz wrote: I can't speak highly enough about The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks (1975). Let's just say that when they issued the 20th anniversary edition, they didn't need to update the examples in the text. cheers stuart Sharon Foster wrote: From my software engineering days, I like Steve McConnell's Code Complete and Software Project Survival Guide; The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks; Joel On Software by Joel Spolsky (who also has a blog); and The Elements of Programming Style, by Kernigan and Plauger. KR is directed at the C programming language, but there are enough similarities in syntax with PHP, Java, and a lot of other web developer languages that I think it's still relevant. Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS Technology Librarian http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/ On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Foxrf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame -- Stuart Yeates http://www.nzetc.org/ New Zealand Electronic Text Centre http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/ Institutional Repository
Re: [CODE4LIB] Book recommendation
If you are into the history of how it all came about, The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal is a good read. It is a little dense at times, but well worth the read. ISBN: 014200135X -nruest On Sep 9, 2009, at 4:15 PM, Jon Gorman wrote: For those who enjoyed The Mythical Man-Month I'd also recommend Peopleware (not the software, the book ;) ). Jon On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 2:58 PM, stuart yeatesstuart.yea...@vuw.ac.nz wrote: I can't speak highly enough about The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks (1975). Let's just say that when they issued the 20th anniversary edition, they didn't need to update the examples in the text. cheers stuart Sharon Foster wrote: From my software engineering days, I like Steve McConnell's Code Complete and Software Project Survival Guide; The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred P. Brooks; Joel On Software by Joel Spolsky (who also has a blog); and The Elements of Programming Style, by Kernigan and Plauger. KR is directed at the C programming language, but there are enough similarities in syntax with PHP, Java, and a lot of other web developer languages that I think it's still relevant. Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS Technology Librarian http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/ On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Foxrf...@nd.edu wrote: Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask this sort of question. I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of technical books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a lot of online technical how tos and that has been good as far as it goes. But, technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm interested in finding books that speak to the issues of programming methodology, design principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular programming technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and experience of veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things like design patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes, the developer mindset and such things? Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've read in these areas? Rob Fox Hesburgh Libraries University of Notre Dame -- Stuart Yeates http://www.nzetc.org/ New Zealand Electronic Text Centre http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/ Institutional Repository Nick Ruest Digital Strategies Librarian McMaster University Mills Memorial Library 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, ON L8S 4L6 Phone: 905.525.9140 ext. 21276 Email: rue...@mcmaster.ca http://library.mcmaster.ca/contact/ruest-nicholas http://nruest.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/ Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a personal process embedded in the human spirit. - Abbie Hoffman
