There was a thread on Hacker News about influential books for programmers. I wrote a comment which I might as well rewrite for this blog because it’s an interesting subject.

So… the answer to this question depends a lot on in what stage of programming maturity you are.

The thing is, I remember the exact moment I “got” what a class in C++ was. It was a true relevation. Even though I had been programming for a few years (on my Commodore 64 and Amiga – mostly BASIC and some assembler) it wasn’t until I was 19 that I fully understood the concept of a class.

I can definitely say that I was a different programmer after that day. It was like leveling up in an RPG.

It took me a few more years to get object oriented design…

Yeah, maybe I’m a slow learner (although I have seen enough of other people’s code to conclude that I’m not alone) but the point is that at different stages of my journey to learn the programming craft I have been open to different ideas and insights.

I don’t think there’s one book that alone would have taken me all the way. The right book at the right moment can push you over a cliff of insight but software development is truly a craft of the mind and it takes many years to be really good at. I’m not there yet.

What’s your favorite programming books?