Books that changed the way I think about software
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The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master – The best advice you can get about software development lies within the pages of this book. Everyone who designs or writes software for a living should read this book. |
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Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming – A great collection of interviews with some of the most notable names in software development. This book gives you a glimpse into the minds of the masters. |
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Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development – Showed me first hand how complex problems could be solved in simple, elegant ways. The code in this book laid the foundation for the very popular open source Spring Framework. |
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Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object Oriented Software – This book will change the way you think about, design, and write object oriented software. |
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Effective Java: Second Edition – This book is an absolute must have for all Java developers. It is one of those books that you can read cover to cover, and learn (or re-learn) something every time. It has a permanent spot on my desk at work. |
Other good software books
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Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship – Great book on the benefits of keeping code clean, along with plenty of tips on how to write clean, concise code. |
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Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide – Showed me that there is more to life than C++ and Java. |
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Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World – More sound advice on software development in the real world. |
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RESTful Web Services – Showed me how simple and scalable web services can be. |
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Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software – Good advice on how to make your software flexible enough to handle the unpredictability of the real world. |
Martial Arts
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Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master Text – Master Funakoshi’s seminal text on the martial art that bears his name. |
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Notes on Training – 30+ years of Tsutomu Ohshima’s notes on training, covering basics, kata, kumite, and practice in general in a very well organized package. |
