Y Hacker News Books

Ask HN: What's the best programming book you've read recently? ↗

The books people recommended

2014-05-16 · 93 points · 90 comments · 58 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. 4

    Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

    Harold Abelson

    4 here · 316 all-time · #2 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 742 ratings on Amazon
  2. 3

    Peopleware

    Tom DeMarco

    3 here · 62 all-time · #59 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,189 ratings on Amazon
  3. 3

    The Little Schemer

    Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen

    3 here · 51 all-time · #81 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 185 ratings on Amazon
  4. 3

    Refactoring

    Martin Fowler

    3 here · 37 all-time · #132 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,228 ratings on Amazon
  5. 3The Art of Multiprocessor Programming

    The Art of Multiprocessor Programming

    Shavit & Herlihy

    3 here · 6 all-time · #1214 overall

  6. 3A Tour of C++

    A Tour of C++

    Bjarne Stroustrup

    3 here · 6 all-time · #1216 overall

  7. 2

    Code

    Charles Petzold

    2 here · 147 all-time · #12 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,787 ratings on Amazon
  8. 2

    The Art of Computer Programming

    Donald Knuth

    2 here · 127 all-time · #14 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 203 ratings on Amazon
  9. 2

    Code Complete

    Steve McConnell

    2 here · 108 all-time · #22 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,353 ratings on Amazon
  10. 2

    Design Patterns

    Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides

    2 here · 80 all-time · #42 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 27 ratings on Amazon
  11. 2

    Clean Code

    Robert C. Martin

    2 here · 47 all-time · #91 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 6,810 ratings on Amazon
  12. 2Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective

    Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective

    Randal E. Bryant; David R. O'Hallaron

    2 here · 26 all-time · #220 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 682 ratings on Amazon
  13. 2Effective Java

    Effective Java

    Joshua Bloch

    2 here · 21 all-time · #293 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 1,623 ratings on Amazon
  14. 2Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming

    Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming

    Peter Van Roy and Seif Haridi

    2 here · 16 all-time · #409 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 37 ratings on Amazon
  15. 2Joy of Clojure

    Joy of Clojure

    Michael Fogus

    2 here · 13 all-time · #493 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 44 ratings on Amazon
  16. 2Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby

    Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby

    Sandi Metz

    2 here · 12 all-time · #537 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 521 ratings on Amazon
  17. 2Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja

    Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja

    John Resig

    2 here · 12 all-time · #550 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 140 ratings on Amazon
  18. 2Real World Haskell

    Real World Haskell

    Paul Chiusano, Jonathan Lam

    2 here · 10 all-time · #640 overall

  19. 2Programming Erlang

    Programming Erlang

    Joe Armstrong

    2 here · 7 all-time · #1012 overall

  20. 2Thinking in C++

    Thinking in C++

    Bruce Eckel

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1729 overall

  21. 2Algorithms in a Nutshell

    Algorithms in a Nutshell

    O'Reilly

    2 here · 4 all-time · #1741 overall

  22. 1

    The C Programming Language

    Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie

    1 here · 124 all-time · #15 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 182 ratings on Amazon
  23. 1

    The Pragmatic Programmer

    Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

    1 here · 102 all-time · #26 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.8 out of 5, 3,644 ratings on Amazon
  24. 1

    The Soul of a New Machine

    Tracy Kidder

    1 here · 76 all-time · #43 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 1,741 ratings on Amazon
  25. 1

    Thinking in Systems

    Donella H. Meadows

    1 here · 55 all-time · #72 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 6,475 ratings on Amazon
  26. 1

    Algorithms

    Robert Sedgewick

    1 here · 49 all-time · #89 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 876 ratings on Amazon
  27. 1Working Effectively with Legacy Code

    Working Effectively with Legacy Code

    Michael Feathers

    1 here · 41 all-time · #122 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 739 ratings on Amazon
  28. 1

    Hackers and Painters

    Paul Graham

    1 here · 36 all-time · #139 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 765 ratings on Amazon
  29. 1

    Programming Pearls

    Jon Bentley

    1 here · 35 all-time · #145 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 402 ratings on Amazon
  30. 1The Code Book

    The Code Book

    Simon Singh

    1 here · 28 all-time · #204 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 2,217 ratings on Amazon
  31. 1

    JavaScript: The Good Parts

    Douglas Crockford

    1 here · 28 all-time · #206 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 1,478 ratings on Amazon
  32. 1

    High Performance Browser Networking

    Ilya Grigorik

    1 here · 22 all-time · #281 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 213 ratings on Amazon
  33. 1

    How to Design Programs

    Matthias Felleisen

    1 here · 21 all-time · #299 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 97 ratings on Amazon
  34. 1TCP/IP Illustrated

    TCP/IP Illustrated

    W. Richard Stevens

    1 here · 20 all-time · #320 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 321 ratings on Amazon
  35. 1The Checklist Manifesto

    The Checklist Manifesto

    Atul Gawande

    1 here · 17 all-time · #370 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 15,188 ratings on Amazon
  36. 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
  37. 1Head First Design Patterns

    Head First Design Patterns

    Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra

    1 here · 16 all-time · #399 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,951 ratings on Amazon
  38. 1C Programming: A Modern Approach

    C Programming: A Modern Approach

    K. N. King

    1 here · 13 all-time · #500 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.4 out of 5, 384 ratings on Amazon
  39. 1Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets

    Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets

    Peter van der Linden

    1 here · 12 all-time · #544 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.3 out of 5, 335 ratings on Amazon
  40. 121st Century C

    21st Century C

    O'Reilly

    1 here · 12 all-time · #545 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 121 ratings on Amazon
  41. 1Let Over Lambda

    Let Over Lambda

    Doug Hoyte

    1 here · 11 all-time · #592 overall

    Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 68 ratings on Amazon
  42. 1Modern Operating Systems

    Modern Operating Systems

    Andrew S. Tanenbaum

    1 here · 10 all-time · #680 overall

  43. 1The Elements of Programming Style

    The Elements of Programming Style

    Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger

    1 here · 9 all-time · #697 overall

  44. 1The Passionate Programmer

    The Passionate Programmer

    Chad Fowler

    1 here · 9 all-time · #717 overall

  45. 1Lisp in Small Pieces

    Lisp in Small Pieces

    Christian Queinnec

    1 here · 9 all-time · #741 overall

  46. 1Functional Programming in Scala

    Functional Programming in Scala

    Chiusano and Bjarnason

    1 here · 8 all-time · #825 overall

  47. 1The Reasoned Schemer

    The Reasoned Schemer

    Daniel P. Friedman, William E. Byrd, Oleg Kiselyov

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1117 overall

  48. 1Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

    Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

    Bjarne Stroustrup

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1118 overall

  49. 1JavaScript Allonge

    JavaScript Allonge

    Reg Braithwaite

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1175 overall

  50. 1Apprenticeship Patterns

    Apprenticeship Patterns

    Dave Hoover , Adewale Oshineye

    1 here · 6 all-time · #1176 overall

  51. 1C in Depth

    C in Depth

    Jon Skeet

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1265 overall

  52. 1Game Engine Architecture

    Game Engine Architecture

    Jason Gregory

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1266 overall

  53. 1Bayesian Data Analysis

    Bayesian Data Analysis

    Andrew Gelman et al.

    1 here · 5 all-time · #1368 overall

  54. 1Clojure Programming

    Clojure Programming

    Chas Emerick, Brian Carper, Christophe Grad

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1578 overall

  55. 1Think Complexity

    Think Complexity

    Downey

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1579 overall

  56. 1JavaScript Enlightenment

    JavaScript Enlightenment

    Cody Lindley

    1 here · 4 all-time · #1752 overall

  57. 1Programming in Lua

    Programming in Lua

    Roberto Ierusalimschy

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2020 overall

  58. 1Effective JavaScript

    Effective JavaScript

    David Herman

    1 here · 3 all-time · #2023 overall