It’s very clear that time is precious, especially for software engineers, but if you manage to read some of them it will definitely help you and your career. The collection below contains some of the most popular and most-read books available as a compilation. Books that are still relevant today and recommended by senior developers often to young developers.

 

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

Let’s start with the most recommended book Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob). It was written to teach how to write clean programming code, also to show how to generate readable and maintainable refactor code. There is also the fact that the book is originally written for Java-focused developers. Having written in 2009, the book is one of the “old but gold”s.

Introduction to Algorithms

Introduction to Algorithms, Third Edition by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein is a fundamental booklet to algorithms of all kinds. It is very comprehensive and accessible. It appeals to all types of readers, due to this it is a little complex and not so easy to follow. It includes topics such as fast algorithms, polynomial-time algorithms, data structures for intractable problems, graph theory, computational geometry, and much more. It contains some examples in coding, but still a theoretical book.

Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual

Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual by John Sonmez is a guide that contains developer and life coach John Sonmez’s advice to developers on important “soft” subjects like career and productivity, personal finance, and investing. Arranged as a collection of 71 short chapters, and taking action sections at the end of each chapter shows you how to get quick results. 

Head First Design Patterns: A Brain-Friendly Guide

Head First Design Patterns: A Brain-Friendly Guide by Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra, and Elisabeth Robson is a good guide to learn patterns and best practices to create functional, reusable, and flexible software. Also, the book includes a lot of visualizations that will help you to learn new concepts easily. Additionally, all the examples are written in Java 8.

Programming Pearls

Topics in these books include the key to good software and the hallmarks of the professional programmer. The content addresses programming in the realm of insight and creativity beyond robust engineering. In short, programming pearls also represent real problems plaguing real programmers.

Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

It is one of the cult books that every programmer should review, even once in his life. It is a wide-ranging analysis of the software world. It includes topics such as design, coding, debugging and testing.

Overall, this book is considered better suited for developers with one to three years of professional programming experience. You can think of it as a continuation of the basic coding book.

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

In the Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, Andrew Hunt and Dave Thomas codify many of the facts they discovered in their careers as software designers and code writers. As a programmer, you can learn how to show your own accumulated wisdom more clearly when you did not guess how to express it, and working methods you may not have thought of yet. Working programmers will especially love this book.

Cracking the Coding Interview

Cracking the Code Interview: 189 Programming Questions & Solutions is a recommendable book to anyone who wants or needs to take coding interviews. As a software engineer, Author Gayle Laakmann McDowell can help you to find out hidden details in questions and in learning concepts, also, to break problems into small chunks. So, this book is a nice guide for those who need to prepare coding interviews.

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, and Ralph Johnson is a book of design patterns that describes simple and elegant solutions to specific problems in object-oriented software design. You can read to have insights that can make your own designs more modular, reusable, flexible, clear, and understandable.

Working Effectively with Legacy Code

In Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers, the author offers methods for dealing with legacy codebases. Legacy code is still one of the toughest problems for many companies. With this book, you can learn mechanics such as optimizing performance, adding features, fixing errors, and improving the design. You will understand the test preparations for legacy code and determine where the code requires changes. The book provides examples written in Java, C ++, C, and C #, and includes tips for dealing with legacy non-object-oriented code.

Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices

The book deals with static and dynamic, principles of classroom design, complexity management, packaging design principles, analysis and design, patterns, and paradigm shifts. It explains the OOD principles in detail and supports them with examples and case studies. Combines agile methods with software design and development methods. Briefly, the book covers in detail software development methods such as OOD, UML, Design Models, Agile, and XP, and how to develop an application.

CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

The last recommended book of this blog is CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software that have written by Charles Petzold. A book that can be read without any technical knowledge to understand today’s PC, digital media, and Internet world. The author has established a connection to the inner life of computers with familiar language systems such as Morse and Braille alphabet. And the book contains the human communication driving technological innovations of the last two centuries.

 

Resources: