5 ms·

Kindle edition of Effective Programming by Jeff Atwood (Coding Horror) for $0.00

244 points by fmariluis 14y ago

nathanpc 14y ago
Awesome eBook for free is awesome. Just bought it for my Kindle and for sure I'll be reading this during the weekend. Thanks for the tip! ;)
- fmariluis 14y ago
  You're welcome :)
n3bu 14y ago
Thanks for the link
pws5068 14y ago
Sweet, I look forward to reading this. Thanks
andyrubio 14y ago
Not in the UK - why TF not?
- soitgoes 14y ago
  UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-ebook/dp/B008HUMTO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346534801&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-e...
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- hackerboos 14y ago
  Amazon.com redirects to the UK homepage when you click "Continue shopping on Amazon UK" for some bizarre reason.
  - mmahemoff 14y ago
    Although a lot of pathnames match across US-UK, I don't think they've fully harmonised all the IDs or have any efficient way to tell which ones actually match. So apparently they're just playing safe by redirecting to homepage. I'm not surprised as even those geo-targeted "Continue shopping" messages are fairly recent. I once wrote a Teleporter script to switch between Amazons (http://softwareas.com/domain-teleporter-greasemonkey-script http://softwareas.com/domain-teleporter-greasemonkey-script) and if they're redirecting to homepage, it's still useful!
  - josephlord 14y ago
    But the offer is there: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-ebook/dp/B008HUMTO0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346539803&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-e...
- encoderer 14y ago
  UK developers are already far too effective?
- gulbrandr 14y ago
  FR link: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008HUMTO0
jonaphin 14y ago
Just in time for the long weekend! :)
- Gamefoo 14y ago
  Haha, I'm with you there, big thanks!
- jonaphin 14y ago
  Oh my, did I not say thank you!? Thank you for the link! I love Jeff Atwood! CodingHorror.com's RSS is one of my favorite Google Reader Feeds
ynh 14y ago
Great Book
jbigelow76 14y ago
No such love for us Nook users. I checked Atwood's site for maybe a posting pointing to a free epub version, no go there either. Sad panda.
- lisper 14y ago
  https://read.amazon.com/about https://read.amazon.com/about
- zubiaur 14y ago
  You still can buy it for the kindle pc app. Then, with Calibre, you can remove the DRM and convert it to epub or whatever format is suitable for the nook.
  - adfadf 14y ago
    > Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited There is no DRM on this book, luckily enough.
    - ihuman 14y ago
      But its still in Amazon's ebook format. Calibre allows you to convert it to something a Nook can read.
jiggy2011 14y ago
This seems to basically be a bunch of Jeff's blog posts in book form. Some of it is interesting to facilitate discussions but how much more "effective" a programmer it will make you seems pretty dubious. I would recommend reading the book "code complete" for more specific tips about thinking about the code you write.
- menacingly 14y ago
  I second the recommendation for Code Complete. If you're looking for tactical construction advice, better to take it from someone with an established history of having constructed software.
  - matheusalmeida 14y ago
    There's no doubt that it's a very extensive book on software development and a very good one but I personally don't recommend it. If one really wants to know about software development, I find that it's much better to join an open source project and discuss the development of the project with other people than just reading about software development. It's almost the same thing as learning everything about an internal combustion engine but having no idea how to fix one. In hindsight perhaps I shouldn't have bought the kindle edition of the book (Code Complete) because it's a very large book and it's not those kinds of books where we must read from cover to cover and I don't think it's very practical to read those books in a kindle but perhaps it's just me. Just my 2 cents.
    - why-el 14y ago
      I agree with this. As a senior, I followed Jeff's recommendation and bought Code Complete, but I found that a lot of it is becoming mainstream language. A book that thought me more personally is Effective Java, because I think some of its sections go way beyond Java and touch on some serious issues developers deal with, like how you structure and document APIs, when to use some patterns and so on..
  - dmcg 14y ago
    StackOverflow is constructed software. I don't agree with much of Geoff's writings, but I do admire his output.
pbiggar 14y ago
I could be wrong, but doesn't the author make no money from these "deals" and have no say in whether they happen? I'm not sure that's something I'd like to do to an author I like.
- Evbn 14y ago
  The publisher gets a minimum royalty/commission per sale, regardless of how Amazon discounts promotion, except in the case where the publisher joins the Free X of the Day rotation.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
ta12121 14y ago
You mean the guy who thinks you should email yourself your passwords to store them safely?
- yuhong 14y ago
  The funny thing is that many sites does password reset via email anyway.
  - xsmasher 14y ago
    Most passwords resets do not mail you the password; they usually mail you a unique URL which you can use to reset the password, which often generates a second mail telling you the password was changed. That prevents anyone from "sneaking" into your account, even if the can snoop your mail / copy your inbox. You'll see the intrusion, and you'll be unable to log into the service after the password is changed. Storing the password in plain-text in your inbox has none of that protection.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- markburns 14y ago
  Do you have a reference for that? Was quite shocked by that and searching his site found a couple of sensible articles about security, but nothing about emailing yourself your passwords. May just be that my google-fu isn't good enough.
  - ta12121 14y ago
    Second to last paragraph: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hacker-proof.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac...
    - markburns 14y ago
      Presumably that is based on his assumption that once the web app receives an email via https and it is to a gmail user, they don't send the message via email (i.e. it never travels over an insecure channel). It may be a reasonable assumption, but seems a little strange to boast about exactly how secure it is.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
mkhalil 14y ago
I have never picked up a software dev book and used it to learn development, mostly just learned by doing. I was curious though, how do most of you read these things? Do you practice while reading, or can I take my iPad to a secluded area and just read my way through it? Any response would be appreciate, thanks!
- why-el 14y ago
  The method that works for me: 1. Give the book a quick read. Essentially just to know what it covered and how the book approaches/covers the topics you are interested in. 2. Now that you know what the book covers and have a fuzzy idea about it, go straight to the section that concerns you most as the need arrises.
fts89 14y ago
US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&linkCode=as2&tag=asdfdsa-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=2506&creative=9298&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&link_code=as3&tag=shopweek-21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_s... DE: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=2514&creative=9386&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&link_code=as3&tag=shopweek0f-21 http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... FR: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek00-21&link_code=as3&camp=2522&creative=9474&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... ES: http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek06-21&linkCode=as2&camp=3626&creative=24790&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... IT: http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=3370&creative=23322&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a...
stonnyfrogs 14y ago
I cannot possibly imagine what anyone would ever have to learn from such a fantastically incompetent failure. There's a reason it says (Coding Horror) up there. He's a horrible programmer, and a horrible if mysteriously successful blogger.
jongalloway2 14y ago
100% of Jeff's posts are must reads. You'll agree with some, disagree with others, but all of them make you think. Worth twice the $0 cost!!!
- arunoda 14y ago
  Yeah. This should be awesome. twice the $0 also means $0 too.
- hans_olo 14y ago
  Yeah, must read if you are into bullshit research.
amitdugar 14y ago
Is there some way to get alerted about other such $0 offers from Kindle?
hans_olo 14y ago
Yeah, learn effective programming by a guy who obviously has no idea what he is talking about ... Why is this idiot still getting publicity?
Miademora 14y ago
Due to copyright restrictions, the Kindle title you're trying to purchase is not available in your country: Germany.
- tluyben2 14y ago
  Yep. How incredibly lame again :(
- Derbasti 14y ago
  Unless, of course, you were to look at amazon.de, where the book is just as freely available as at amazon.co.uk or amazon.com. At least it was a few hours ago. Now it is back to its normal price.
webmanoffesto 14y ago
It says $6.60 when I check the page. Because I'm browsing from outside the US? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&linkCode=as2&tag=asdfdsa-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
- amitdugar 14y ago
  I think the offer is closed. I was able to download the free copy from outside US. Maybe just a 24 hour offer.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
soitgoes 14y ago
Looks like the offer has now ended. I'm seeing the US version for $4.79 and the UK version is £3.02.
- feefie 14y ago
  True. It was $0 for me yesterday but not today. This reinforces my unhealthy belief that I must check my news feeds constantly throughout the day, everyday, nonstop, lest I miss out on... saving $5. :)
laacz 14y ago
I think, that this kind of post ir misleading. During past month there has been several of those "Kindle edition for free", which does not represent actual price (at least for people not from USA). Same here - edition I see (from Latvia) is priced at $7.59.
mykhal 14y ago
http://xkcd.com/1098/ http://xkcd.com/1098/
grimborg 14y ago
Not in Europe.

244 points by fmariluis 14y ago

Awesome eBook for free is awesome. Just bought it for my Kindle and for sure I'll be reading this during the weekend. Thanks for the tip! ;)

fmariluis 14y ago
You're welcome :)

n3bu 14y ago

Thanks for the link

pws5068 14y ago

Sweet, I look forward to reading this. Thanks

andyrubio 14y ago

Not in the UK - why TF not?

soitgoes 14y ago
UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-ebook/dp/B008HUMTO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346534801&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-e...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
hackerboos 14y ago
Amazon.com redirects to the UK homepage when you click "Continue shopping on Amazon UK" for some bizarre reason.
- mmahemoff 14y ago
  Although a lot of pathnames match across US-UK, I don't think they've fully harmonised all the IDs or have any efficient way to tell which ones actually match. So apparently they're just playing safe by redirecting to homepage. I'm not surprised as even those geo-targeted "Continue shopping" messages are fairly recent. I once wrote a Teleporter script to switch between Amazons (http://softwareas.com/domain-teleporter-greasemonkey-script http://softwareas.com/domain-teleporter-greasemonkey-script) and if they're redirecting to homepage, it's still useful!
- josephlord 14y ago
  But the offer is there: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-ebook/dp/B008HUMTO0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346539803&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Programming-More-Writing-e...
encoderer 14y ago
UK developers are already far too effective?
gulbrandr 14y ago
FR link: http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008HUMTO0

jonaphin 14y ago

Just in time for the long weekend! :)

Gamefoo 14y ago
Haha, I'm with you there, big thanks!
jonaphin 14y ago
Oh my, did I not say thank you!? Thank you for the link! I love Jeff Atwood! CodingHorror.com's RSS is one of my favorite Google Reader Feeds

ynh 14y ago

Great Book

jbigelow76 14y ago

No such love for us Nook users. I checked Atwood's site for maybe a posting pointing to a free epub version, no go there either. Sad panda.

lisper 14y ago
https://read.amazon.com/about https://read.amazon.com/about
zubiaur 14y ago
You still can buy it for the kindle pc app. Then, with Calibre, you can remove the DRM and convert it to epub or whatever format is suitable for the nook.
- adfadf 14y ago
  > Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited There is no DRM on this book, luckily enough.
  - ihuman 14y ago
    But its still in Amazon's ebook format. Calibre allows you to convert it to something a Nook can read.

jiggy2011 14y ago

This seems to basically be a bunch of Jeff's blog posts in book form. Some of it is interesting to facilitate discussions but how much more "effective" a programmer it will make you seems pretty dubious. I would recommend reading the book "code complete" for more specific tips about thinking about the code you write.

menacingly 14y ago
I second the recommendation for Code Complete. If you're looking for tactical construction advice, better to take it from someone with an established history of having constructed software.
- matheusalmeida 14y ago
  There's no doubt that it's a very extensive book on software development and a very good one but I personally don't recommend it. If one really wants to know about software development, I find that it's much better to join an open source project and discuss the development of the project with other people than just reading about software development. It's almost the same thing as learning everything about an internal combustion engine but having no idea how to fix one. In hindsight perhaps I shouldn't have bought the kindle edition of the book (Code Complete) because it's a very large book and it's not those kinds of books where we must read from cover to cover and I don't think it's very practical to read those books in a kindle but perhaps it's just me. Just my 2 cents.
  - why-el 14y ago
    I agree with this. As a senior, I followed Jeff's recommendation and bought Code Complete, but I found that a lot of it is becoming mainstream language. A book that thought me more personally is Effective Java, because I think some of its sections go way beyond Java and touch on some serious issues developers deal with, like how you structure and document APIs, when to use some patterns and so on..
- dmcg 14y ago
  StackOverflow is constructed software. I don't agree with much of Geoff's writings, but I do admire his output.

pbiggar 14y ago

I could be wrong, but doesn't the author make no money from these "deals" and have no say in whether they happen? I'm not sure that's something I'd like to do to an author I like.

Evbn 14y ago
The publisher gets a minimum royalty/commission per sale, regardless of how Amazon discounts promotion, except in the case where the publisher joins the Free X of the Day rotation.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

ta12121 14y ago

You mean the guy who thinks you should email yourself your passwords to store them safely?

yuhong 14y ago
The funny thing is that many sites does password reset via email anyway.
- xsmasher 14y ago
  Most passwords resets do not mail you the password; they usually mail you a unique URL which you can use to reset the password, which often generates a second mail telling you the password was changed. That prevents anyone from "sneaking" into your account, even if the can snoop your mail / copy your inbox. You'll see the intrusion, and you'll be unable to log into the service after the password is changed. Storing the password in plain-text in your inbox has none of that protection.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
markburns 14y ago
Do you have a reference for that? Was quite shocked by that and searching his site found a couple of sensible articles about security, but nothing about emailing yourself your passwords. May just be that my google-fu isn't good enough.
- ta12121 14y ago
  Second to last paragraph: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hacker-proof.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hac...
  - markburns 14y ago
    Presumably that is based on his assumption that once the web app receives an email via https and it is to a gmail user, they don't send the message via email (i.e. it never travels over an insecure channel). It may be a reasonable assumption, but seems a little strange to boast about exactly how secure it is.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

mkhalil 14y ago

I have never picked up a software dev book and used it to learn development, mostly just learned by doing. I was curious though, how do most of you read these things? Do you practice while reading, or can I take my iPad to a secluded area and just read my way through it? Any response would be appreciate, thanks!

why-el 14y ago
The method that works for me: 1. Give the book a quick read. Essentially just to know what it covered and how the book approaches/covers the topics you are interested in. 2. Now that you know what the book covers and have a fuzzy idea about it, go straight to the section that concerns you most as the need arrises.

fts89 14y ago

US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&linkCode=as2&tag=asdfdsa-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=2506&creative=9298&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&link_code=as3&tag=shopweek-21 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_s... DE: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=2514&creative=9386&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&link_code=as3&tag=shopweek0f-21 http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... FR: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek00-21&link_code=as3&camp=2522&creative=9474&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... ES: http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek06-21&linkCode=as2&camp=3626&creative=24790&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a... IT: http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=shopweek0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=3370&creative=23322&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0 http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_a...

stonnyfrogs 14y ago

I cannot possibly imagine what anyone would ever have to learn from such a fantastically incompetent failure. There's a reason it says (Coding Horror) up there. He's a horrible programmer, and a horrible if mysteriously successful blogger.

jongalloway2 14y ago

100% of Jeff's posts are must reads. You'll agree with some, disagree with others, but all of them make you think. Worth twice the $0 cost!!!

arunoda 14y ago
Yeah. This should be awesome. twice the $0 also means $0 too.
hans_olo 14y ago
Yeah, must read if you are into bullshit research.

amitdugar 14y ago

Is there some way to get alerted about other such $0 offers from Kindle?

hans_olo 14y ago

Yeah, learn effective programming by a guy who obviously has no idea what he is talking about ... Why is this idiot still getting publicity?

Miademora 14y ago

Due to copyright restrictions, the Kindle title you're trying to purchase is not available in your country: Germany.

tluyben2 14y ago
Yep. How incredibly lame again :(
Derbasti 14y ago
Unless, of course, you were to look at amazon.de, where the book is just as freely available as at amazon.co.uk or amazon.com. At least it was a few hours ago. Now it is back to its normal price.

webmanoffesto 14y ago

It says $6.60 when I check the page. Because I'm browsing from outside the US? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008HUMTO0&linkCode=as2&tag=asdfdsa-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HUMTO0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...

amitdugar 14y ago
I think the offer is closed. I was able to download the free copy from outside US. Maybe just a 24 hour offer.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

soitgoes 14y ago

Looks like the offer has now ended. I'm seeing the US version for $4.79 and the UK version is £3.02.

feefie 14y ago
True. It was $0 for me yesterday but not today. This reinforces my unhealthy belief that I must check my news feeds constantly throughout the day, everyday, nonstop, lest I miss out on... saving $5. :)

laacz 14y ago

I think, that this kind of post ir misleading. During past month there has been several of those "Kindle edition for free", which does not represent actual price (at least for people not from USA). Same here - edition I see (from Latvia) is priced at $7.59.

mykhal 14y ago

http://xkcd.com/1098/ http://xkcd.com/1098/

grimborg 14y ago

Not in Europe.