Y Hacker News Books

Ask HN: What are some books where the reader learns by building projects? ↗

The books people recommended

2020-02-11 · 852 points · 178 comments · 35 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

  1. 10The Elements of Computing Systems

    The Elements of Computing Systems

    Nisan and Schocken

    10 here · 58 all-time · #65 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 416 ratings on Amazon
  2. 6

    Code

    Charles Petzold

    6 here · 147 all-time · #12 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,787 ratings on Amazon
  3. 4Rails Tutorial

    Rails Tutorial

    Michael Hartl

    4 here · 13 all-time · #514 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 228 ratings on Amazon
  4. 4Black Hat Go

    Black Hat Go

    4 here · 5 all-time · #1511 overall

  5. 3Writing an Interpreter in Go

    Writing an Interpreter in Go

    3 here · 4 all-time · #1917 overall

  6. 2

    Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

    Harold Abelson

    2 here · 316 all-time · #2 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 742 ratings on Amazon
  7. 2

    Crafting Interpreters

    Robert Nystrom

    2 here · 32 all-time · #175 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 734 ratings on Amazon
  8. 2Practical Common Lisp

    Practical Common Lisp

    Peter Seibel

    2 here · 16 all-time · #400 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 120 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2Paradigms of AI Programming

    Paradigms of AI Programming

    Peter Norvig

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1807 overall

  10. 2500 lines or less

    500 lines or less

    2 here · 3 all-time · #2475 overall

  11. 1

    Code Complete

    Steve McConnell

    1 here · 108 all-time · #22 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,353 ratings on Amazon
  12. 1

    Designing Data-Intensive Applications

    Martin Kleppmann

    1 here · 104 all-time · #24 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 5,595 ratings on Amazon
  13. 1

    Refactoring

    Martin Fowler

    1 here · 37 all-time · #132 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,228 ratings on Amazon
  14. 1

    The Art of Electronics

    Horowitz and Hill

    1 here · 33 all-time · #170 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 2,192 ratings on Amazon
  15. 1Physically Based Rendering

    Physically Based Rendering

    Matt Pharr, Greg Humphreys

    1 here · 17 all-time · #380 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.1 out of 5, 45 ratings on Amazon
  16. 1Accelerate

    Accelerate

    Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim

    1 here · 11 all-time · #579 overall

    Buy on Amazon
  17. 1Land of Lisp

    Land of Lisp

    Conrad Barski

    1 here · 10 all-time · #627 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 160 ratings on Amazon
  18. 1Real World Haskell

    Real World Haskell

    Paul Chiusano, Jonathan Lam

    1 here · 10 all-time · #640 overall

  19. 1Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

    Automate the Boring Stuff with Python

    Al Sweigart

    1 here · 10 all-time · #690 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 3,517 ratings on Amazon
  20. 1Make: Electronics

    Make: Electronics

    Charles Platt

    1 here · 8 all-time · #792 overall

  21. 1The Ray Tracer Challenge

    The Ray Tracer Challenge

    Jamis Buck

    1 here · 8 all-time · #878 overall

  22. 1Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests

    Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests

    Steve Freeman and Nat Pryce

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1070 overall

  23. 1Build Your Own Lisp

    Build Your Own Lisp

    Daniel Holden

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1222 overall

  24. 1Clojure for the Brave and True

    Clojure for the Brave and True

    Daniel Higginbotham

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1241 overall

  25. 1The Architecture of Open Source Applications

    The Architecture of Open Source Applications

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1296 overall

  26. 1Mazes for Programmers

    Mazes for Programmers

    Jamis Buck

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1808 overall

  27. 1Linux from Scratch

    Linux from Scratch

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1906 overall

  28. 1Python Crash Course

    Python Crash Course

    Eric Matthes

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1962 overall

  29. 1Compiler Construction

    Compiler Construction

    Niklaus Wirth

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1963 overall

  30. 1Assembly Language and Computer Architecture Using C++ and Java

    Assembly Language and Computer Architecture Using C++ and Java

    Anthony J. Dos Reis

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1964 overall

  31. 1Compiler Construction Using Java, JavaCC, and Yacc

    Compiler Construction Using Java, JavaCC, and Yacc

    Anthony J. Dos Reis

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1965 overall

  32. 1The Accounting Game

    The Accounting Game

    Darrell Mullis

    1 here · 3 all-time · #1966 overall

  33. 1The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2416 overall

  34. 1Programming Game AI By Example

    Programming Game AI By Example

    Mat Buckland

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2417 overall

  35. 1Computer Graphics from Scratch

    Computer Graphics from Scratch

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2492 overall