5 ms·

Recommended books for a self taught software developer

2 points by ju_sh 6y ago

I'm a self taught developer (of 4 years) and have been working professionally as a developer (working mostly with Python and JavaScript) for the past 2 years. As an autodidact, I feel I'm lacking knowledge in many of the core principles of software engineering and computer science. I often find myself having great ideas for projects, packages and implementations but find myself running into roadblocks and frustration when trying to express them. Book recommendations appreciated!

pettycashstash2 6y ago
Go to the search bar of hacker news and search “learn programming”. Lots of answers one example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919465
asicsp 6y ago
Here's some articles that might help: * http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/learn-programming-languages-efficiently/ http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/learn-progra... * https://www.techinasia.com/talk/27-things-started-programming https://www.techinasia.com/talk/27-things-started-programmin... * https://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html https://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html * https://github.com/mtdvio/every-programmer-should-know https://github.com/mtdvio/every-programmer-should-know Books: * https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-developers/ https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-develo... * https://danluu.com/programming-books/ https://danluu.com/programming-books/ * https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books-should-everyone-read https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books... Specific to Python: * https://nostarch.com/seriouspython https://nostarch.com/seriouspython * https://www.manning.com/books/practices-of-the-python-pro https://www.manning.com/books/practices-of-the-python-pro
- ju_sh 6y ago
  Thanks :), will take a look at these
not_knuth 6y ago
Well since you mentioned JS and Python, Programming in Haskell [0] by Graham Hutton is a very approachable text book to familiarize yourself with topics about functional programming (just a personal favourite). And of course there is the mother of all software books SICP [1] (yes, it's free) – which is often regarded as the CS text book. It is very information-dense and touches on many parts of CS. However, if you're struggling to build things, I doubt that books will do much good, since they usually cover theoretical aspects. For this I could only recommend lots of tinkering and practice and little half-completed projects, unfortunately. Do you have some specific examples of projects/libraries where you got stuck? Perhaps we can get a better understanding of what it is you feel you are lacking then... [0] https://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pszgmh/pih.html https://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pszgmh/pih.html [1] https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html

2 points by ju_sh 6y ago

pettycashstash2 6y ago

Go to the search bar of hacker news and search “learn programming”. Lots of answers one example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21919465

asicsp 6y ago

Here's some articles that might help: * http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/learn-programming-languages-efficiently/ http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/programming/learn-progra... * https://www.techinasia.com/talk/27-things-started-programming https://www.techinasia.com/talk/27-things-started-programmin... * https://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html https://prog21.dadgum.com/177.html * https://github.com/mtdvio/every-programmer-should-know https://github.com/mtdvio/every-programmer-should-know Books: * https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-developers/ https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-develo... * https://danluu.com/programming-books/ https://danluu.com/programming-books/ * https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books-should-everyone-read https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3253/what-books... Specific to Python: * https://nostarch.com/seriouspython https://nostarch.com/seriouspython * https://www.manning.com/books/practices-of-the-python-pro https://www.manning.com/books/practices-of-the-python-pro

ju_sh 6y ago
Thanks :), will take a look at these

not_knuth 6y ago

Well since you mentioned JS and Python, Programming in Haskell [0] by Graham Hutton is a very approachable text book to familiarize yourself with topics about functional programming (just a personal favourite). And of course there is the mother of all software books SICP [1] (yes, it's free) – which is often regarded as the CS text book. It is very information-dense and touches on many parts of CS. However, if you're struggling to build things, I doubt that books will do much good, since they usually cover theoretical aspects. For this I could only recommend lots of tinkering and practice and little half-completed projects, unfortunately. Do you have some specific examples of projects/libraries where you got stuck? Perhaps we can get a better understanding of what it is you feel you are lacking then... [0] https://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pszgmh/pih.html https://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~pszgmh/pih.html [1] https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html