4 ms·

Ask HN: What physical books do you have?

11 points by diehunde 7y ago

trilinearnz 7y ago
Too many =P But seriously, there are certain volumes I would never part with. For example: The Pragmatic Programmer, SICP, Design Patterns, The C Programming Language. Tomes which are definitive and timeless. I also have a few for purely nostalgic value, representative of key moments in my past. Notably: the OpenGL Red Book and C++ The Complete Reference.
- zro 7y ago
  Is SICP worth reading? I keep hearing about it, but it seems like it's mostly a resource for learning lisp. Is that not the case?
  - danpalmer 7y ago
    I haven’t read SICP, but I’ve heard it’s like Let Over Lambda which I have read. Ostensibly, LOL is about how LISPs work, but in reality it’s a much more fundamental look into how execution and scoping do what they do, why, the semantics, etc. I mostly write Python now, but I have a much deeper appreciation and understanding of object orientation from reading LOL. You may find the same with SICP.
  - potta_coffee 7y ago
    SICP isn't really about Lisp but it's examples are in Lisp (Scheme actually). You can read the book for free on the mitpress website.
  - momofarm 7y ago
    yes, but you need to have time. It's quite time consuming. the first chapter will introduce you some usage of lisp. Rest of the book will introduce some programming concept. 1. Recursive (tail recursive!) 2. Abstraction 3. State and Concurrency (Lisp has concurrency! what a surprise!) 4. Streams (if you have read this, reactive programming will be piece of cake for you) 5. REPL (read eval print loop) 6. Logic Programming 7. A simple virtual machine 8. and lots more........these are what I remember for now It will improve your knowledge on programming. WAY BETTER THAN THOSE BOOKS JUST TELL YOU HOW TO USE A SPECIFIC LANGUAGE.
zro 7y ago
I only have two tech-realted books on paper: - Microwave Transistor Amplifiers by Guillermo Gonzalez, which is a fantastic introduction and reference about high frequency circuit design - The O'Reilly Linux Pocket guide, which has a cowboy on the cover and usually gets loaned to coworkers Aside from that I've got a ton of sci-fi and high fantasy, but I'm slowly moving to a digital collection.
kleer001 7y ago
I just found "Land of Lisp" in a local mini library. Am excited and quite surprised.
zzo38computer 7y ago
I have a lot of books. I like to read books. I also have books with blank striped paper for writing my own notes.
CM30 7y ago
At the moment, very few. I used to read a whole bunch of philosophy books, as well as a few help books on software engineering topics. Then over time I just realised I could get pretty much anything non fiction related online, and stopped buying any more. Might consider reading more novels in future though.
b3u 7y ago
More that thirty. I can never read online as well as I can with a paper book. Even just printing out a two-page article.
krapp 7y ago
I have a lot, but my favorites are the Time-Life Enchanted World series. I don't think I have the whole set, though.
enonevets 7y ago
I have a handful due to people gifting them but will eventually give them away. I’ve moved to digital more than a decade ago and simply don’t want to own physical books anymore when it can be helped.

11 points by diehunde 7y ago

Too many =P But seriously, there are certain volumes I would never part with. For example: The Pragmatic Programmer, SICP, Design Patterns, The C Programming Language. Tomes which are definitive and timeless. I also have a few for purely nostalgic value, representative of key moments in my past. Notably: the OpenGL Red Book and C++ The Complete Reference.

zro 7y ago
Is SICP worth reading? I keep hearing about it, but it seems like it's mostly a resource for learning lisp. Is that not the case?
- danpalmer 7y ago
  I haven’t read SICP, but I’ve heard it’s like Let Over Lambda which I have read. Ostensibly, LOL is about how LISPs work, but in reality it’s a much more fundamental look into how execution and scoping do what they do, why, the semantics, etc. I mostly write Python now, but I have a much deeper appreciation and understanding of object orientation from reading LOL. You may find the same with SICP.
- potta_coffee 7y ago
  SICP isn't really about Lisp but it's examples are in Lisp (Scheme actually). You can read the book for free on the mitpress website.
- momofarm 7y ago
  yes, but you need to have time. It's quite time consuming. the first chapter will introduce you some usage of lisp. Rest of the book will introduce some programming concept. 1. Recursive (tail recursive!) 2. Abstraction 3. State and Concurrency (Lisp has concurrency! what a surprise!) 4. Streams (if you have read this, reactive programming will be piece of cake for you) 5. REPL (read eval print loop) 6. Logic Programming 7. A simple virtual machine 8. and lots more........these are what I remember for now It will improve your knowledge on programming. WAY BETTER THAN THOSE BOOKS JUST TELL YOU HOW TO USE A SPECIFIC LANGUAGE.

zro 7y ago

I only have two tech-realted books on paper: - Microwave Transistor Amplifiers by Guillermo Gonzalez, which is a fantastic introduction and reference about high frequency circuit design - The O'Reilly Linux Pocket guide, which has a cowboy on the cover and usually gets loaned to coworkers Aside from that I've got a ton of sci-fi and high fantasy, but I'm slowly moving to a digital collection.

kleer001 7y ago

I just found "Land of Lisp" in a local mini library. Am excited and quite surprised.

zzo38computer 7y ago

I have a lot of books. I like to read books. I also have books with blank striped paper for writing my own notes.

CM30 7y ago

At the moment, very few. I used to read a whole bunch of philosophy books, as well as a few help books on software engineering topics. Then over time I just realised I could get pretty much anything non fiction related online, and stopped buying any more. Might consider reading more novels in future though.

b3u 7y ago

More that thirty. I can never read online as well as I can with a paper book. Even just printing out a two-page article.

krapp 7y ago

I have a lot, but my favorites are the Time-Life Enchanted World series. I don't think I have the whole set, though.

enonevets 7y ago

I have a handful due to people gifting them but will eventually give them away. I’ve moved to digital more than a decade ago and simply don’t want to own physical books anymore when it can be helped.