“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin. Here is a list of 10 books that I believe that every developer should read. Take a look.

1. Ganesh Samarthyam
10 BOOKS THAT EVERY DEVELOPER
MUST READ

2. PROGRAMMING PEARLS
➤ Commitment to continuous
learning and focusing on
foundational aspects is an
important characteristic of an
excellent developer
➤ Programming pearls brings us
back-to-the-basics and helps us
revisit key topics such as
algorithm design in specific
and writing high-performance
code in general
➤ This is yet another timeless
classic that should be in every
developers bookshelfhttp://amzn.com/0201657880

3. CODE COMPLETE
➤ In programming, it is difficult
to make even the smallest of
decisions
➤ Which variable name or
control structure to use? To
comment or not to
comment? Should I refactor
this code?
➤ This book covers provides a
big-picture for software
development and also delves
into minute details
http://amzn.com/0735619670

4. THE PRAGMATIC PROGRAMMER
➤ This classic book provides
valuable and practical advice
to programmers
➤ Not specific to any language
or technology
➤ Provides specific “tips”
➤ My favourite: Tip 35 -
“Finish what you start”
➤ I got exposed to concepts such
as “broken window theory”
from this book
http://amzn.com/020161622X

5. DESIGN PATTERNS
➤ Classic work on patterns
➤ Provides insights on
creating effective object
oriented designs
➤ Generic “reusable” design
knowledge
➤ This is not a book that you can
read from front to back cover
➤ I come back to reading it for
getting inspiration from time-
to-time (e.g., the initial
chapter is a “treatise” on OO)
http://amzn.com/020163361

6. REFACTORING
➤ Classic work on refactoring
➤ Provides insights on
emergent design and how
to create and evolve quality
software
➤ This book covers foundational
aspects, process and
mechanics of refactoring
➤ Written in a free-flowing and
easy-to-read style
➤ Inspiration for writers like
me
http://amzn.com/0201485672

7. OBJECT ORIENTED SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION
➤ Excellent book on object
oriented programming and
design
➤ Learning OO features is easy,
but mastering OO design is
difficult
➤ Explicitly mentions “Dos
and Don’t’s”
➤ Universal principles on OO
design encapsulated in
pithy statements (also
cross-referenced and
summarized in the end)http://amzn.com/0136291554

8. THE MYTHICAL MAN-MONTH
➤ In my first-job, I understood
that software development is
much more than programming
➤ Mythical man-month is a old
book (1975!) but what it
discusses still remains relevant
➤ Few years back I came
across a project where the
project manager was adding
people to a late project
➤ Wanted to tell him: "adding
manpower to a late software
project makes it later"
http://amzn.com/0201835959

9. EXTREME PROGRAMMING EXPLAINED
➤ Kent Beck is one of those
amazing programmers
➤ He explains his approach
towards software development
in XP (Extreme Programming)
➤ Many practices such as writing
tests before code (TDD), pair
programming, etc are now
widely accepted (aside: XP is
still evolving)
➤ I like this book because of its
pragmatic view on software
development practices
http://amzn.com/0321278658

10. AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
➤ Robert C Martin is another
programmer that I greatly
admire
➤ His important contribution:
documenting key design
principles such as Single
Responsibility Principle
(SRP), Dependency Inversion
Principle (DIP), and Interface
Segregation Principle (DSP)
➤ This book provides his
perspective towards software
design and development
http://amzn.com/0135974445

12. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
➤ Check out our book on
refactoring
➤ Why care about software design
viewed from the perspective of
technical debt
➤ Covers 25 design smells
classified as violation of the
principles of abstraction,
encapsulation, modularization,
or hierarchy
➤ Interesting anecdotes and case
studies reported from the
trenches working in real-world
projectshttp://amzn.com/0128013974
www.designsmells.com