Like @JohnFen said, my style has also evolved over multiple decades and it's hard to pin it down to one (or even a few) specific titles. But I suppose Teach You

Like @JohnFen said, my style has also evolved over multiple decades and it's hard to pin it down to one (or even a few) specific titles. But I suppose Teach Yourself C by Herbert Schildt deserves a nod, as it's basically the book I first learnt programming from. Other than that, I can recall being influenced by a number of the X: How To Program[1] books by Deitel and Deitel. I might also mention Rapid Development and Code Complete by Steve McConnell. And The Pragmatic Programmer had some influence. [1]: including "C: How to Program", "C++: How to Program" and "Java: How to Program".