David Nash (dnash@chaos.demon.co.uk) responds to a past article on books that most programmer’s should have. – ED
I fully agree with your bookshelf – I have recommended almost all the books in your general and language lists (I have read ‘Elements’ but have not seen it in a bookshop. I don’t have the Knuth books – yet!). BTW, ‘The Mythical Man-Month’ is by Fredrick P. Brooks Jr. ISBN 0 201 00650 2, reprinted with corrections, Jan 1992 by Addison Wesley.
I would add the following to the list, they are all important texts on my bookshelf:
BCPL the language and it’s compiler, Martin Richards & Colin Whitby-Strevens ISBN 0 521 28681 6 Cambridge University Press.
This is THE book on BCPL, and very good too. It presents the full source of the BCPL lexical and syntax analyser so it will interest anyone interested in compilers. BCPL was the first compiler available for the QL.
The Psychology of Computer Programming, Gerald M. Weinberg ISBN 0 442 20764 6 Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Very interesting insights on programming and programmers.
C A Reference Manual – 3rd edition, Samuel P. Harbison and Guy L. Steele Jr. ISBN 0 13 110933 2 Prentice Hall.
This is the best reference I know of for both K&R and ANSI C, It lives on my bookshelf beside the two K&R editions.
C Traps and Pitfalls, Andrew Koenig ISBN 0 201 17928 8 Addison Wesley.
A discussion of the ‘traps & pitfalls’ of C and how to avaid them. The text was developed from an internal Bell Labs paper which was requested by over 2000 people.
The Standard C Library, P.J. Plauger ISBN 0 13 131509 9 Prentice Hall.
This book presents the complete source code for an ANSI C Library with a lot of discussion of implementation issues.
The Whole Internet Users Guide and Catalog, Ed Krol ISBN 1 56592 025 2 O’Reilly & Associates.
What the Internet is and how to use it from Telnet to the World Wide Web. This book is currently hard to find in the UK – demand exceeds supply.
Operating Systems Design and Implementation, Andrew S. Tanenbaum ISBN 0 13 637331 3 Prentice Hall.
The MINIX book. A good general discussion on operating system design and the source code to MINIX.
Computer Networks, Andrew S. Tanenbaum ISBN 0 13 166836 6 Prentice Hall.
A complete introduction to computer networking, with examples drawn from all the major networking systems.
And finally for fun:
The New Hackers Dictionary, Eric Raymond ISBN 0 262 68069 6 MIT Press.
The hard copy form of the Jargon File – defines the slang and jargon of the computer world. Contains the correct version of some of the stories found in other books like the Devouring Fungus. The Jargon File is actively maintained vi the Internet and the electronic file is more up-to-date than the book.
Lists like that make you realize how many important books you have.