We mentioned a few interesting books last week and I think it’d be good to start a list.
Add your book recommendations bellow! There are no strict rules (I wouldn’t mind adding sci-fi books to my to-read list) but let keep it in the realms of technical(ish) topics.
We can also use the space to ask for recommendations about specific topics.
My recommendation during the meeting last week was The Programmer’s Brain by Felienne Hermans. The author explains how the brain works (at least what we know about how it works) when we do things like programming and the things we can do to improve the way we do it.
According to the book:
In The Programmer’s Brain: What every programmer needs to know about cognition you will learn:
Fast and effective ways to master new programming languages
Speed reading skills to quickly comprehend new code
Techniques to unravel the meaning of complex code
Ways to learn new syntax and keep it memorized
Writing code that is easy for others to read
Picking the right names for your variables
Making your codebase more understandable to newcomers
Onboarding new developers to your team
Here is the book I recommended. It’s quite old, but very funny and full of insight, especially on the art of user interface development (both graphical and command-line).
“Programming as if people mattered: Friendly programs, software engineering and other noble delusions”, Nathaniel S. Borenstein. Programming as if People Mattered | Princeton University Press
My recommendations:
A Philosophy of Software Design, John Ousterhout
Working Effectively with Legacy Code, Michael Feathers
Clean Code, Bob Martin
Clean Architecture, Bob Martin
Scientific Software Design: the Object Oriented Way, Damian Rouson
Refactor, Martin Fowler