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Ask HN: Programming books to read while on vacation?
21 points by colbyolson on Aug 16, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 31 comments
Hey guys,

I am leaving for a weeklong vacation tomorrow and I am looking for a book to read while I am there. I asking for any recommendations of programming books that I can find.

I just recently started learning python, so something related to that would be convenient, also I will not have access to a computer, so having to work along with the book would be out of the question. I'm trying to find a nice book to assist me in my digital travels into the programming world!

I would appreciate any response. Thanks.




Try some fiction, instead. It's a vacation. I just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy a couple of weeks ago. It's really good.

That said, if you're going to read programming books, you might want narrative texts rather than "practical" books, since the practical ones require you to also have a computer, and work through the examples and such. Books like Programming Pearls, Beautiful Code, etc. tell stories about code, rather than just show you code (though there are probably moments in either book where the best course of action is to try applying what you've read about).


Cormac McCarthy is a depressing motherfucker. I'm halfway through Blood Meridian and ready to slit my wrists. Good programmer read: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, by David Foster Wallace.


Blood Meridian made me a McCarthy fan.


Another great hacker fiction read: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson


The Road really is a fantastic book, makes you think about how rapidly humanity would change if civilization dissolved. Can't wait for the movie to come out this fall.


I'd like to second Beautiful Code Enjoyable vacation read.


Grab The Little Schemer and a notebook. Do all exercises in the notebook with a pencil, without a computer.

It'll make you a better Python programmer for sure.


Forgive me for asking, but how could that book help me down the road? Scheme seems so obscure to me. I was at the bookstore and checked it out, and was mildly intimidated by it, although the illustrations were cute.

I ended up purchasing Practical Programming. Thank you all for your recommendations, some I have saved into my reading list.

PDF Sample: http://media.pragprog.com/titles/gwpy/toc.pdf

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Programming-Introduction-Pra...


It's not really meant to just teach you scheme. Scheme by itself is incredibly minimalist and simple. The exercises are more logic/math-based puzzles. Here's a list of the exercises themselves:

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/BTLS/exercises.ps


TLS will break your mind in the most delicious way. I can't recommend it enough. As for practicality, I think that the world is trending in directions that make becoming comfortable with recursion more important.


You made the wrong choice, TLS would have changed your world. Now you're slumming it.


"Hackers and Painters" or "Founders at Work" are both good books if you haven't picked them up yet. Not language learning or directly programming but interesting none the less.

A book more directly related to programing would be "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" or "The Little Schemer." bring a notebook and do problems out of them like defunkt said and it will help in all your programming.


Are you sure you want to read a programming book on your vacation? Esp. if your day job involves computers it doesn't sound like a vacation at all.

That said I find the best instructional material for Python is the tutorial included in the Python manual itself.


Nobody's mentioned it here, yet: Godel Escher Bach


Also consider Hofstadter's "Metamagical Themas", a collection of his Scientific American essays. A broad range of topics, lots of stuff to think about, and something on my shelf that I return to just for the pleasure. Good stuff.


I'll suggest The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas. Basic stuff, but lives up to the title of being "pragmatic".

If you're going to write commercial software for a living, it's useful stuff to know (or be reminded of).


I would recommend a classic that you haven't read that isn't directly about a specific programming language, since it would seem to me that the virtue of reading a book about a specific language when you aren't in front of a computer is dubious. (Note I didn't say it had no virtue, I just find it dubious. YMWV.)

Already mentioned is Code Complete and The Pragmatic Programmer. I'd add The Mythical Man Month, still a classic, but note that's a relatively short book and may not last long enough. (A depressing read in some ways; decades have passed and what's in the book is arguably common wisdom, yet I still encounter the errors outlined in that book every year.)

Godel, Escher, Bach (mentioned by caffeine) is a love it or hate it book; check out a couple of summaries and see what you think.

Personally, I don't recommend the SICP unless you're actually working through the exercises to some extent, and without a computer it's too easy to think you understand it when you don't.

If you have already read all those, well, I'd suggest replying and saying so. :)


Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think (Theory in Practice) is not an instructional programming book per se, but more along the lines of what I would consider "vacation reading". Each of the chapters is a self-contained entity, authored by a different luminary, so you can read them in whatever order suits your fancy.


I find that reading fiction on vacation really stimulates my programming brain. There's a lot to be said for letting your mind roam free for a bit. I believe PG talks about the value of letting your mind roam in one of his essays (or possibly Hackers and Painters). In particular, I've found Neal Stephenson's books to be great for this purpose. If you haven't read Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, or Diamond Age, I would suggest reading one of them. It will satisfy your need for some "geek" content on vacation, without being all business.


I was going to suggest "Snow Crash" as well, so I'll just second it. Very cool book.


Code Complete 2nd edition is a good and interesting book about programming in general. I also recommend these two because they are much lighter reads, and maybe better for a vacation: "The Passionate Programmer" and also "Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages".

Another thing you could do is find some great piece of software by a well know Python hacker and read his code lol. You could put that code in some readable format on your Kindle, PDA, or Smartphone.


I really enjoyed reading this book a fair few years ago on holiday "Stealing the network: how to own a continent" (http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Network-How-Own-Continent/dp/...). Theres a few books in the series, they blend fiction with real security related attacks, its not strictly a programming book, they do delve into coding a few things if I remember correctly.


Since it's a vacation, here's a novel with lots of interesting ideas about ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, etc.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End

Fun with Python: http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Collective-Intelligence-Bu...


Here are some similar threads on recommended books for hackers:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=135185

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=348019

If you would rather relax with some fiction, try Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.


For a programmer on vacation, I wouldn't recommend a technical book. Go for something that will exercise the right side of your brain, the parts that don't get as much work day-to-day. Your left-brain is what you're trying to rest and refresh; that's why you're on vacation after all.

I'd go for something on the far end of the spectrum; some forgotten modern classic that won't let your left-brain to kick in, like Return of the Native.

If you absolutely must have something technical, the aforementioned Neal Stephenson books are great, as are William Gibson books. The Little Schemer is a good book to go through while you're NOT on vacation.


C# in Depth: What you need to master C# 2 and 3 by Jon Skeet

http://www.amazon.com/Depth-What-you-need-master/dp/19339883...


I can't champion this book enough, if you're doing C# stuff then this book is a must have.


I suggest Beautiful Architecture from O'Reilly.

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517984/

http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Architecture-Leading-Thinker...

It's similar to Beautiful Code (also mentioned here) with various chapters on different, independent topics: e.g. Facebook's data-centric architecture, Xen hypervisor, etc.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_in_a_Boat

:)


You could read Sarah Lacy's "Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good" (which was called "The Stories of Facebook, Youtube and Myspace" when I bought it in the U.K.)

It's a light read (suitable for a holiday) and it will inspire you to build your startup when you get back.


Programming Pearls is nice to read while traveling. Doesn't really require a computer, essays are short.




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