3 ms·
Hard to argue with any of the books in OP's post. The ones that I have read (at least half of them) are great. If I had to pick one, it would be the Rhinocero
by edw519 16y ago
Hard to argue with any of the books in OP's post. The ones that I have read (at least half of them) are great. If I had to pick one, it would be the Rhinocerous book, simply because Javascript is everywhere.
I've been a professional programmer for many years, but oddly, programming books, as good as they often are, have had surprisingly little affect on me. I've learned much more about programming from working on projects, other programmers, and websites about the technology at hand.
Programming has always come naturally to me, but business hasn't. So since the original question is "most influential book" and not "most influential programming book", I would prefer to mention some of my favorite business books. They helped me become the programmer I am much more than any programming book.
Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout
Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki
Controlling Software Projects - Tom DeMarco
You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar - David Sandler
Carnegie - Peter Krass
Do More Faster - Brad Feld and David Cohen
Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston
But if I had to pick only one:
How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis
because it got me to dreaming, it's so much fun to read, and for the line, "If it flies, floats or fornicates, always rent it - it's cheaper in the long run."
- marcofloriano 16y agoThanks for the tip! Im going to read it right now !
- qqqq2010 16y agoOh man... the Rhino is a good reference, but lacks all kinds of best practices and essential style pieces. Between 'proper' OO style, short circuiting on falsey assignment (var a = b || "default"), checking existence to avoid errors ( if (myObject && myObject.getJSON()){//block to deal with JSON} ) and the DOM, I feel like this is only useful to look up the Date() and Math() methods. Sorry, just griping because it was the first 'real' programming book I got, and I feel that it misled me for quite a while. </rant>
- bad_user 16y agoI wonder why they don't add the <rant> tag to the HTML5 standard.
- wheels 16y agoMost of those books wouldn't interest 99% of programmers.
- robryan 16y agoI think it's more startup founders who also have to have a foot in the business side of things. Sure people who just program don't need to know that stuff.
- mikeryan 16y agoJust a note, I've switched from "Art of the Start" to "Reality Check" from Guy Kawasaki as my favorite, practical starting a business book. I think RC covers most everything in Art of the Start plus more.
- weaksauce 16y agoI loved that book by Dennis! It's a very enjoyable read that I could not put down. Very inspiring.
- zeteo 16y ago"Differentiate or Die" Sounds like the punchline in a math joke.
- Natsu 16y agoOr possibly an anime, like Read or Die.
- alinajaf 16y ago+1 on the Felix Dennis book, I read it whenever I'm feeling unmotivated. Its a great way to get your head out of the 9-5 mindset.