Computer Books

What Makes a Good Computer Book?

It’s definitely not bulk. The vast majority (exceeding even what one would suspect from Sturgeon’s Law) of computer books sold today are junk. In a futile attempt to avoid intimidating computer novices they are padded with so many pages of “friendly” jabber[1] that they often end up over a thousand pages long. A cursory examination reveals that they contain very little useful text, and could be replaced easily and completely by a book one tenth their size!

Favorites

Some computer books that I’ve found especially enjoyable and interesting are, in no particular order:

Unix and C

  • The C Programming Language, Kernighan and Ritchie.
  • The UNIX Programming Environment, Kernighan and Pike.
  • Software Tools, Kernighan and Plauger.
  • Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, Stevens.

Lisp and Functional Programming

  • The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman.
  • The Little Lisper, Felleisen and Friedman.
  • Lisp in Small Pieces, Queinnec, Callaway (translator).
  • Essentials of Programming Languages, Friedman, Wand, and Haynes.
  • ANSI Common Lisp and On Lisp, Graham.[2]
  • Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp: A Programmer’s Guide to CLOS, Keene.
  • Dylan Programming: An Object-Oriented and Dynamic Language, Feinberg (Editor), Keene, Mathews, Withington.
[1]Not only is this jabber completely unnecessary, it usually is harmful, since it hides the useful information in excess verbage.
[2]On Lisp is out of print but available for download from Paul Graham’s web site.

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