As a programming student i feel sometimes we go a bit too technical and we lose the philosophy and the main point of what we are doing.

What are some great books (classics and none) to read on programming?

I’m interested to the topic of programming and computer science in general but especially to the cypherpunk philosophy and to concepts like the story of internet, the philosophy that led to the beginning of it etc…

  • Haus
    1•11 months ago

    Weinberg boiled it down to a single axiom for me: “If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.” I’m not sure if they’re still in fashion, but two other things that inspired me were The Cathedral and the Bazaar and the front material of the original Gang of Four book *Design Patterns."

    • @OmnipotentEntity@beehaw.org
      4•11 months ago

      Although I also read and was influenced by The Cathedral and The Bazaar shortly after it was published, I find it difficult to recommend, given that ESR went off the deep end. The book is a good interesting read, just get a PDF of it and don’t go digging.

      • @vent@beehaw.org
        3•11 months ago

        I was curious about what you meant by “went off the deep end”, so I digged and… ooof… His Political Beliefs and Activism section in his wiki is not good, that’s all I’ll say.