9 ms·

Ask HN: What are the best short tech/engineering books you have read?

77 points by keewee7 4y ago

Books that are 500 pages or less.

gjvc 4y ago
I'm ignoring the 500 page limit, but W. Richard Stevens set a high standard with TCP/IP Illustrated and Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment.
jleyank 4y ago
K&R C Gleick Genius (although some prefer Chaos) Hofstadter Godel Escher Bach One taught C. One taught or showed the life of a non conventional smart guy. One made you think.
- sultanofsaltin 4y ago
  While I support the GEB being on here... It's ~750 pages ;) Gleick is great across the board, and Feynman's life + writings are a great choose your own adventure, regardless of your background. I personally really enjoyed "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Path" (collections of various correspondences throughout his life, put together by his daughter). Probably more enjoyable with a bit of the context from watching interviews/ lectures or reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"
  - jleyank 4y ago
    I never got into GEB, but friends/others loved it. Struck me as a put done/pick up book. I didn't have it at hand and only remembered it as a roughly 2-3" paperback :-).
dontbenebby 4y ago
I would be wary of focusing on length, since longer books have useful end of chapter exercises and more explanatory text rather than (possibly dead) links. Cracking Codes with Python: An Introduction to Building and Breaking Ciphers is under five hundred pages and will make you more powerful than most American civil war era generals. Here's an online copy: https://inventwithpython.com/cracking/ https://inventwithpython.com/cracking/ Happy to help! (Previously I tried the ESR approach of starting with C, and got frustrated and gave up. Learn python, and learn the math the broken American K-12 system did not teach you in one fell swoop -- you'll learn a lot about algerbra and pretty much anything not involving weird curves.) If you decide to learn C, the K&R C book mentioned in this thread IS useful. I think I have my copy stashed away with my lockpicks, rope, razor blades, and boxes of matches I bought before the pandemic. (A Boy Scout is always prepared, even if all of BSA along with the church they met in has gone bankrupt.) Also, the "K&R book" is ISBN number 9780131101630, in case you, the OP, being a non engineer, don't know what the acronym mentioned elsewhere in the thread was :-)
sys_64738 4y ago
Definitely K&R.
- forinti 4y ago
  That's a great little book. Unfortunately The Go Programming Language just goes on and on and on...
killerstorm 4y ago
I'd say "Patterns of Software: Tales from the Software Community" by RPG. It is not about patterns, just sort of a sober look at attempts to "solve" problems with software. Plus some Lisp history.
f0e4c2f7 4y ago
Game Programming Patterns. The Google SRE book is a little dry but has a lot of good content.
kbrannigan 4y ago
The documentation of any mature web development framework. Yii, codeigniter, BackboneJS,. I read the source code along the documentation. That helps to see design patterns in action. It's amazing, works for me.
dc-programmer 4y ago
Probably not the best but I liked the Phoenix Project. It’s novel because it’s literally a novel. The story makes a case for the practice of devops through the medium of long form fiction. I probably liked it because at the end the protagonist’s company starts making progress on clearing their ops backlog which was cathartic for me to fantasize about. As for actual best, Tenebaum’s Distributed Systems was a key read for me starting my career as a first year developer working on large backend systems. I’ve probably forgotten 95% of the content, but it helped me develop intuition for the reasons and tradeoffs of system decision decisions. It’s 96 pages over your limit, but a lot of the end chapters of the book’s parts can be skipped. Also Designing Data-Intensive applications covers some of the same content with slightly less rigor so that is a good substitute.
- 0des 4y ago
  I think this is also a free audible book, that's how I got it a while back.
andsoitis 4y ago
Hacker's Delight by Henry S. Warren Jr.
1sembiyan 4y ago
Designing Data Intensive Applications is 600 pages, but very readable. 100 page Machine Learning book is also pretty good. A Philosophy of Software Design is short, and opinionated as such books go. I liked it - it articulates a few concepts that we encounter in our daily work and don’t really learn about in school. You don’t have to agree with what the author says, but by engaging with the ideas presented at least you will know what you have internalized about this business of writing code.
- robcorn 4y ago
  Designing Data Intensive Applications is so good. Dense with so much knowledge and experience. My biggest issue is that bc it's so dense I worry that I don't retain parts that aren't applicable to any designs I'm currently working on. Not sure of a good way to counteract that other than to just reread relevant parts every so often.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
t-3 4y ago
How Computers Work - Roger Young Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie
- joeman1000 4y ago
  I just found a copy of Thinking Forth. The typesetting is excellent. Thanks for the suggestion.
clem 4y ago
Let Over Lambda by Doug Hoyte was a compelling read for me, even though I don't work in Common Lisp that often. It's a very opinionated work that flies in the face of a lot of conventional Lisp practices (he loves his macros!) I don't necessarily agree with everything written, but having to think about why I didn't agree in itself made it a value-add to my book collection.
OJFord 4y ago
Sipser's Theory of Computation Spence's Information Visualisation
muzani 4y ago
The Manga Guide to Databases https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/dp/1593271905 https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/...
- tmaly 4y ago
  the Enterprise Rails book has a great section on databases that I think takes things to the next level.
dhash 4y ago
aosabook.org
0des 4y ago
Flowers for Algernon
yogini 4y ago
Release It!: Design and deploy production-ready software, a book by Michael T. Nygard This book is around 380 pages, but an amazing read for everyone working on creating softwares.
TrustPatches 4y ago
Halfway through crafting interpreters and I couldn’t recommend it enough, the entire book is free on the website, and contains every line of code you need to create your own programming language. Very practical, with just the right amount of theory. Even if you don’t care about language design, it’s a great way to get you to think about the tools we use everyday, how they get made, and why their limitations exist.
syspec 4y ago
Out of the Tar Pit 66 - pages, a little dry but will change your life The main thesis of the book is that the programmers job, is to try to minimize state as much as possible

77 points by keewee7 4y ago

Books that are 500 pages or less.

gjvc 4y ago

I'm ignoring the 500 page limit, but W. Richard Stevens set a high standard with TCP/IP Illustrated and Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment.

jleyank 4y ago

K&R C Gleick Genius (although some prefer Chaos) Hofstadter Godel Escher Bach One taught C. One taught or showed the life of a non conventional smart guy. One made you think.

sultanofsaltin 4y ago
While I support the GEB being on here... It's ~750 pages ;) Gleick is great across the board, and Feynman's life + writings are a great choose your own adventure, regardless of your background. I personally really enjoyed "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Path" (collections of various correspondences throughout his life, put together by his daughter). Probably more enjoyable with a bit of the context from watching interviews/ lectures or reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"
- jleyank 4y ago
  I never got into GEB, but friends/others loved it. Struck me as a put done/pick up book. I didn't have it at hand and only remembered it as a roughly 2-3" paperback :-).

dontbenebby 4y ago

I would be wary of focusing on length, since longer books have useful end of chapter exercises and more explanatory text rather than (possibly dead) links. Cracking Codes with Python: An Introduction to Building and Breaking Ciphers is under five hundred pages and will make you more powerful than most American civil war era generals. Here's an online copy: https://inventwithpython.com/cracking/ https://inventwithpython.com/cracking/ Happy to help! (Previously I tried the ESR approach of starting with C, and got frustrated and gave up. Learn python, and learn the math the broken American K-12 system did not teach you in one fell swoop -- you'll learn a lot about algerbra and pretty much anything not involving weird curves.) If you decide to learn C, the K&R C book mentioned in this thread IS useful. I think I have my copy stashed away with my lockpicks, rope, razor blades, and boxes of matches I bought before the pandemic. (A Boy Scout is always prepared, even if all of BSA along with the church they met in has gone bankrupt.) Also, the "K&R book" is ISBN number 9780131101630, in case you, the OP, being a non engineer, don't know what the acronym mentioned elsewhere in the thread was :-)

sys_64738 4y ago

Definitely K&R.

forinti 4y ago
That's a great little book. Unfortunately The Go Programming Language just goes on and on and on...

killerstorm 4y ago

I'd say "Patterns of Software: Tales from the Software Community" by RPG. It is not about patterns, just sort of a sober look at attempts to "solve" problems with software. Plus some Lisp history.

f0e4c2f7 4y ago

Game Programming Patterns. The Google SRE book is a little dry but has a lot of good content.

kbrannigan 4y ago

The documentation of any mature web development framework. Yii, codeigniter, BackboneJS,. I read the source code along the documentation. That helps to see design patterns in action. It's amazing, works for me.

dc-programmer 4y ago

Probably not the best but I liked the Phoenix Project. It’s novel because it’s literally a novel. The story makes a case for the practice of devops through the medium of long form fiction. I probably liked it because at the end the protagonist’s company starts making progress on clearing their ops backlog which was cathartic for me to fantasize about. As for actual best, Tenebaum’s Distributed Systems was a key read for me starting my career as a first year developer working on large backend systems. I’ve probably forgotten 95% of the content, but it helped me develop intuition for the reasons and tradeoffs of system decision decisions. It’s 96 pages over your limit, but a lot of the end chapters of the book’s parts can be skipped. Also Designing Data-Intensive applications covers some of the same content with slightly less rigor so that is a good substitute.

0des 4y ago
I think this is also a free audible book, that's how I got it a while back.

andsoitis 4y ago

Hacker's Delight by Henry S. Warren Jr.

1sembiyan 4y ago

Designing Data Intensive Applications is 600 pages, but very readable. 100 page Machine Learning book is also pretty good. A Philosophy of Software Design is short, and opinionated as such books go. I liked it - it articulates a few concepts that we encounter in our daily work and don’t really learn about in school. You don’t have to agree with what the author says, but by engaging with the ideas presented at least you will know what you have internalized about this business of writing code.

robcorn 4y ago
Designing Data Intensive Applications is so good. Dense with so much knowledge and experience. My biggest issue is that bc it's so dense I worry that I don't retain parts that aren't applicable to any designs I'm currently working on. Not sure of a good way to counteract that other than to just reread relevant parts every so often.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

t-3 4y ago

How Computers Work - Roger Young Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie

joeman1000 4y ago
I just found a copy of Thinking Forth. The typesetting is excellent. Thanks for the suggestion.

clem 4y ago

Let Over Lambda by Doug Hoyte was a compelling read for me, even though I don't work in Common Lisp that often. It's a very opinionated work that flies in the face of a lot of conventional Lisp practices (he loves his macros!) I don't necessarily agree with everything written, but having to think about why I didn't agree in itself made it a value-add to my book collection.

OJFord 4y ago

Sipser's Theory of Computation Spence's Information Visualisation

muzani 4y ago

The Manga Guide to Databases https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/dp/1593271905 https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Databases-Mana-Takahashi/...

tmaly 4y ago
the Enterprise Rails book has a great section on databases that I think takes things to the next level.

dhash 4y ago

aosabook.org

0des 4y ago

Flowers for Algernon

yogini 4y ago

Release It!: Design and deploy production-ready software, a book by Michael T. Nygard This book is around 380 pages, but an amazing read for everyone working on creating softwares.

TrustPatches 4y ago

Halfway through crafting interpreters and I couldn’t recommend it enough, the entire book is free on the website, and contains every line of code you need to create your own programming language. Very practical, with just the right amount of theory. Even if you don’t care about language design, it’s a great way to get you to think about the tools we use everyday, how they get made, and why their limitations exist.

syspec 4y ago

Out of the Tar Pit 66 - pages, a little dry but will change your life The main thesis of the book is that the programmers job, is to try to minimize state as much as possible