Apart from having a human mentor, another good way to be a distinguished software developer is to read software development books. In fact, many people have been able to navigate their way through programming without choosing or having a mentor; all they did was to lay their hands on best software development books, and they excelled. As such, you might be asking yourself, “What are the best books on programming?” We’ve got this valid question of yours sorted out for you here. You do not need to scan through the tons books available out there; just check out our pick, and you are set.
1. Head Set Design Pattern
Stopping at the basics of Object-Oriented Programming alone won’t make you a guru at Object-Oriented designing; just like knowing about polysyndeton doesn’t make you an expert in poetics. Still, you need to learn some novel design patterns. That is where this book comes in handy. The language used and definitions put forward are simple and devoid of polysyndeton and other archaic literary devices. The book was co-authored by Eric Freeman and Kathy Sierra, and although it is not free online, you can get it from Amazon at a reasonable amount.
Although the subject matter the book addresses is notable for being complicated and difficult, the authors have written it in such a way that a beginner will have no problem understanding it. You can take it as an upgraded version of books designed by GOF necessary for all Object-Oriented designers.
2. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
The author of this book is a renowned mentor in the field of software development. His name is Bob Martin fondly called “Uncle Bob” by his fans and students. If you are interested in writing codes that are understandable and clear, this book is a resource you can count on. In place of the Polysyndeton examples definition and examples common with some of its other competitors, this book contains ample code examples to guide and direct the would-be code expert on what to do.
3. The Pragmatic Programmer
The title of this book has said a bit about its content. Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas wrote it beginners in programming to master your things in the field and fine-tune their skills. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a group or you are working alone; the knowledge you will acquire will help you somehow. Experts can see it as resource material to teach basic concepts in programming to their students.
4. Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided By Tests
The short form of this book is GOOS. Speaking on practicality now, this book is next to none in the world of Test-Driven Development. Polysyndeton literary definition encompasses the use of needless conjunctions to bring phrases or clauses together, and this often makes reading difficult for newbies. This was sparingly used in this text. Steve Freeman and Nat Pryce, who are the joint author of this practical GOOS material, used simple expressions to reveal how readers can come up with realistic projects by making use of TDD. You would see a lot of code examples in the literature if you check it out.
5. The Phoenix Project
This one of the best software development books out there. Authored by Gene Kim, this work put to the fore the everyday managerial challenges often faced in large organizations. It is a novel centered on information technology that explains DevOps, Theory of Constraints and Leans in a very comical but yet straightforward manner. If you are a programmer working for big companies, it is one of those books you would want to keep with you.
6. Continuous Delivery
In social sciences, production is never accounted to be complete until the goods and services produced to get to the consumers. Continuous Delivery is a work by Jez Humble and David Farley that instructs software developers on technical practices and principles of getting the software to the users. This process begins with automating the software building process, testing, enhanced collaborations among developers, operations, and testers, plus the delivery team. To short-circuit any of these processes is to get things out of hand.
7. Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Manual
Written by John Sonmez, this book addresses issues that are often left undiscussed in the programming world. This includes productivity, career, relationships, and even the fitness of a software developer. It looks critically into those things that make up the lifestyles of a programmer, and how issues can be managed. For newbies that are concerned about marketing their skills and developing some “soft” skills, there is no doubting the fact that this material would be a great asset. It is one of the best books on programming that teaches survival of a software developer, and how programmers can build the correct habits needed for progress.
8. The Clean Coder
This is more like a follow-up of Uncle Bob’s earlier Clean Code Book. It is a material full of advice on several aspects of coding, refactoring, testing, and estimation. Similarly, Uncle Bob dealt with estimation and communication issues that often arise in the workplace in this book.
Conclusion
Even in the world of Information Technology, only those who read lead. And one good thing about books is that it often outlive its author. If you have access to any of the 7 books put forward here, your career in the software development world is bound to expand. They are not free, but if you check on Amazon, you wind find that they aren’t too expensive either. The basis for featuring them in our pick of the best software development books is simply on the content of what they offer.