Programmers at work: I bought a used copy of it - probably after reading this the first time it was posted. Great book, if you can find it.

Code, by Charles Petzold should be on any programmer’s list - and the list of anyone with curiosity about how the modern world works. It somehow manages the amazing trick of being readable for the novice, but also containing nuggets of insight for the expert all at the same time. Such a well written book.

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so-cal-schemer 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Code and Elements of Computing Systems are two of the most recommended books (top 20) on HN according to a now defunct scraping site.

The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles

by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL21015000W/Elements_of_Comput...

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rbanffy 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If, for nothing else, Programmers At Work has Bill Gates talking about dumpster diving for program listings.

The book is great - I love how Gary (IIRC) describes the centrality of data structures and how code kind of emerges from there.

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so-cal-schemer 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Classic!

The 2nd part reminds me of another in my personal library:

Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs

by Wirth

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5191055M/Algorithms_data_str...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithms_%2B_Data_Structures...

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jan_m_savage 2 days ago | parent [-]

How did Wirth's book benefit you?

Wirth writes fast but well.

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so-cal-schemer 2 days ago | parent [-]

It was probably the first book on data structures and algorithms I came to possess (likely from a library book sale as a teen), so I would say I learned a lot from it, but don't remember the particulars. I remember it being clear and to the point, even though I didn't use Pascal, with good diagrams and nice printing. I read it as pseudocode.

It was a very compact hardcover edition that I could carry around easily in my backpack.

And it had a memorable title.

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so-cal-schemer 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Ah. I realize the book I carried everywhere was this one:

Data Structures and Algorithms

by Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3491774M/Data_structures_and...

but I own copies of both.

	▲	jan_m_savage 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks. Aho et al. was also given in Modula-3 which was perfect since Pascal-derived languages clearly motivate the why and the guts of the algos. C obscures them (too focused on pragmatism). Wirth's DS + A = P book was also written in Modula-2, a better, real-world language, and the writing was tightened. Still can be found if you know where to look. (I have a German edition cuz I wanted to hear the man say it in his native language-- btw, I am not German).

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getpost a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I loved that book! Fortran was the language used in my first programming class, and it was a revelation seeing program examples in the comparatively lucid PASCAL.

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drivers99 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

He writes about that and many other similar things in his recent autobiography of his younger years, "Source Code" (2025).

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hcs 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Programmers at Work has a new edition, so might be easier to find now! https://www.programmersatwork.net/the-book

Agreed that Code is great! I'll pick up the second edition some day if I ever see it on a bookshelf.

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jrmg 2 days ago | parent [-]

I know this is all ‘judge a book by its cover’, but I was really disappointed in the second edition. It’s super cheaply printed compared to the first.

Black, thin, warped, glossy cover stock instead of that super nice feeling matte white one, and much thinner nastier paper (despite being longer the book is much thinner).

I have in the past given copies of ‘Code’ to people who’ve seemed interested in learning about computer science/engineering with a ‘this book is so good!’ and upon reflection just now I’m ashamed to say I’ve stopped doing that because the book _feels_ like a cheaply made textbook rather than a nicely presented popular science book now.

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hcs a day ago | parent [-]

Even later printings of the first edition of Code lose a lot of that nice hefty handbook feel, unfortunately.

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so-cal-schemer a day ago | parent [-]

I've mostly stopped recommending O'Reilly books at my public library because in many cases the printing has been so bad, it's embarrassing. Just-in-time manufacturing, I guess.

It's not like the old days when books were heirlooms with attentive layouts, quality paper and ink, and solid bindings. Addison-Wesley's offerings come to mind, even softcover books from Prentice-Hall. And especially the ancient Computer Science Series from McGraw-Hill College.

Manning and No Starch do a better job these days.

Here's a new hardcover many here could appreciate:

Heavy Wizardry 101: Shellcodes, Backdoors, Droppers, and Worms

by David Martínez Oliveira, aka Pico

https://nostarch.com/heavy-wizardry-101

	▲	so-cal-schemer a day ago \| parent [-]
		s/mostly/almost/ O'Reilly still puts out many great, serious books with good formatting and decent binding + paper + printing. Many of the new titles on machine learning, for instance.