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Ask HN: Top 10 Timeless Software Books That ChangedLife as Software Engineer? ↗

The books people recommended

2023-11-11 · 100 points · 70 comments · 21 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

  1. 8Test-Driven Development

    Test-Driven Development

    Kent Beck

    8 here · 9 all-time · #162 overall

  2. 5A Philosophy of Software Design

    A Philosophy of Software Design

    John Ousterhout

    5 here · 19 all-time · #46 overall

  3. 4The Mythical Man-Month

    The Mythical Man-Month

    Frederick Brooks Jr.

    4 here · 26 all-time · #19 overall

  4. 4

    The C Programming Language

    Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie

    4 here · 24 all-time · #25 overall

  5. 3The Pragmatic Programmer

    The Pragmatic Programmer

    Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

    3 here · 15 all-time · #65 overall

  6. 3Peopleware

    Peopleware

    Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister

    3 here · 15 all-time · #67 overall

  7. 3Hacking

    Hacking

    Jon Erickson

    3 here · 4 all-time · #442 overall

  8. 2Code Complete

    Code Complete

    Steve McConnell

    2 here · 12 all-time · #108 overall

  9. 2Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

    Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

    Bjarne Stroustrup

    2 here · 3 all-time · #611 overall

  10. 1

    Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

    Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman, Julie Sussman

    1 here · 49 all-time · #7 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 742 ratings on Amazon
  11. 1

    Code

    Charles Petzold

    1 here · 27 all-time · #17 overall

  12. 1Design Patterns

    Design Patterns

    Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides

    1 here · 10 all-time · #131 overall

  13. 1Hackers & Painters

    Hackers & Painters

    Paul Graham

    1 here · 8 all-time · #170 overall

  14. 1Crafting Interpreters

    Crafting Interpreters

    Robert Nystrom

    1 here · 7 all-time · #189 overall

  15. 1Accelerate

    Accelerate

    Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim

    1 here · 5 all-time · #295 overall

  16. 1Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets

    Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets

    Peter van der Linden

    1 here · 5 all-time · #331 overall

  17. 1Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment

    Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment

    W. Richard Stevens

    1 here · 4 all-time · #360 overall

  18. 1Clean Code

    Clean Code

    Robert C. Martin

    1 here · 4 all-time · #373 overall

  19. 1Algorithms to Live By

    Algorithms to Live By

    Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths

    1 here · 4 all-time · #387 overall

  20. 1Refactoring

    Refactoring

    Martin Fowler

    1 here · 4 all-time · #411 overall

  21. 1Software Engineering at Google

    Software Engineering at Google

    1 here · 4 all-time · #448 overall