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Survey Results

What book taught you most about being a good programmer?

Survey period: 8 Jul 2013 to 15 Jul 2013

A totally open ended question this week. Please just enter the full title of the book, and post any explanatory comments in the survey's discussion forum.

View optional text answers (676 answers)


 
GeneralError......Slove.....Learn....Practice..... Pin
JasminHan16-Jul-13 22:03
professionalJasminHan16-Jul-13 22:03 
GeneralRe: Error......Slove.....Learn....Practice..... Pin
Amir Mohammad Nasrollahi26-Jul-13 6:37
professionalAmir Mohammad Nasrollahi26-Jul-13 6:37 
Generalc++ books Pin
akash jaggi14-Jul-13 5:21
akash jaggi14-Jul-13 5:21 
GeneralObviously - The Bible Pin
Joezer BH13-Jul-13 21:01
professionalJoezer BH13-Jul-13 21:01 
GeneralRe: Obviously - The Bible Pin
Ron Anders14-Jul-13 1:42
Ron Anders14-Jul-13 1:42 
General"Principles of Programming Languages, Second Edition", 1987, Bruce J. MacLennan Pin
PIEBALDconsult13-Jul-13 16:34
mvePIEBALDconsult13-Jul-13 16:34 
GeneralI didn't read any book at all Pin
Anurag Gandhi12-Jul-13 2:23
professionalAnurag Gandhi12-Jul-13 2:23 
GeneralRe: I didn't read any book at all Pin
n.podbielski13-Jul-13 5:46
n.podbielski13-Jul-13 5:46 
GeneralThe book that taught me the most... Pin
Brisingr Aerowing11-Jul-13 10:31
professionalBrisingr Aerowing11-Jul-13 10:31 
GeneralTitle and author unknown Pin
Phil J Pearson10-Jul-13 3:51
Phil J Pearson10-Jul-13 3:51 
A long time ago (but not in a galaxy far away) I bought a C cross-compiler from a small company in Newcastle, in the north-east of England. I travelled up there (about a 4 hour drive each way) and spent a couple of hours while they demonstrated their products and I decided what to buy. I left with the software (on a few 5.25" floppy disks) and a few A5 ring binders with the manuals. The C compiler ran on an 8085-based Microprocessor Development System and targeted code for an 8080-based custom controller that I had built myself.

Among the manuals was a rudimentary C language reference which included a few pages of what we would now call a Style Guide. That included a sentence that, even after all these years, I can almost remember word for word: "Nothing in this section affects the way the program works and you don't have to follow any of these rules but these high-handed dicta have proved their worth time and again." Having never programmed in C before I followed the guidelines carefully and now (more than 30 years later) my coding style is still based on the same standards. I have changed little other than to add more rules in the same spirit (to suit C++ and C#) that I impose on myself with equal rigour. I subsequently discovered that some of the style in that guide is quite different from K&R and I still firmly believe that in those places K&R were wrong!

I often think about the unknown author of that guide and how much I owe to him or her. I lost those little black plastic binders a long time ago but I will never lose what their contents taught me. Thanks a million, whoever you are!
Phil



The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.

GeneralC++ How To Program by Deitel & Deitel Pin
Lizandro Campbell9-Jul-13 19:51
professionalLizandro Campbell9-Jul-13 19:51 
GeneralABC, My first alphabet Pin
Giuseppe Tollini9-Jul-13 8:33
Giuseppe Tollini9-Jul-13 8:33 
GeneralRe: ABC, My first alphabet Pin
  Forogar  11-Jul-13 6:21
professional  Forogar  11-Jul-13 6:21 
GeneralMy list Pin
ed welch9-Jul-13 7:02
ed welch9-Jul-13 7:02 
General'The Art of Computer Programming' (aka TAOCP) by Donald Knuth Pin
DrABELL9-Jul-13 6:50
DrABELL9-Jul-13 6:50 
GeneralThe Java Tutorial by Mary Campione, Kathy Walrath and Alison Huml Pin
Richard MacCutchan9-Jul-13 4:36
mveRichard MacCutchan9-Jul-13 4:36 
GeneralSoftware Tools by Kernighan and Plauger Pin
mikepwilson9-Jul-13 4:20
mikepwilson9-Jul-13 4:20 
GeneralGood programmer Pin
crazie.coder8-Jul-13 22:58
professionalcrazie.coder8-Jul-13 22:58 
GeneralSome Java book Pin
meta_berkut8-Jul-13 22:18
meta_berkut8-Jul-13 22:18 
GeneralRe: Some Java book Pin
Amir Mohammad Nasrollahi26-Jul-13 6:38
professionalAmir Mohammad Nasrollahi26-Jul-13 6:38 
GeneralBest Tech sites for articles and Technology related news Pin
Mohammed Hameed8-Jul-13 18:34
professionalMohammed Hameed8-Jul-13 18:34 
GeneralAssembly reference books Pin
S Houghtelin8-Jul-13 14:07
professionalS Houghtelin8-Jul-13 14:07 
GeneralTry, Fail and... try again... Pin
AlexCode8-Jul-13 12:22
professionalAlexCode8-Jul-13 12:22 
GeneralChris Maunder's Programmer's Guide to Weekly Poll Questions Pin
MacSpudster8-Jul-13 9:43
professionalMacSpudster8-Jul-13 9:43 
GeneralThe Pragmatic Programmer Pin
CHill608-Jul-13 8:30
mveCHill608-Jul-13 8:30 

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