3 ms·

I'm a little surprised by the results. Why would a tome on C be the most influential book that every programmer should read? I would think that before any of t

I'm a little surprised by the results. Why would a tome on C be the most influential book that every programmer should read? I would think that before any of these books I would prefer that someone I was working with or hiring had read something like "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or a book on writing effectively, instead of any of the books on the first two pages. My reasoning is that the most common problem I find with other programmers is not their programming skills, but their communication of interpersonal skills. Edit: Aha! "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is on page 5 with 74 points!

Turing_Machine 15y ago
It's not just a great C book, it's a great book. The writing is extremely clear and concise, and packs an incredible amount of information into a few short pages (short by comparison with the "doorstop" books that seem to be in vogue). People associated with writing technical documentation of any kind could learn a lot from it. You won't find many programming books from 1988 that are still relevant and on the market -- the only exception that comes to mind is SICP, which also has a very high rank.
tryitnow 15y ago
That's a good point. Interestingly, it also shows the weakness of the English language as a technique for expressing an idea. I think there's an unwritten condition in the question: "What is the single most influential [explicitly programming related] book every programmer should read?" My guess is that is how most people interpreted the question. Of course, there's no explicit reason to interpret it this way. This just highlights the weakness of human language (that is on a standalone basis, using context human language is probably very powerful).