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Nicholas Meyer

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Jan 6, 2008, 12:40:31 AM1/6/08
to Des Moines CocoaHeads
Hey folks,

Programming has been a hobby of mine through college (and by some
measures before that), but I've never really had any formal training,
and as such I'm pretty clueless when it comes to algorithms, design
patterns, and best development practices.

I'm wondering if anybody can recommend any good general (non-Cocoa-
specific) books or websites to read. I've heard good things about
"Code Complete," and I'm wondering if there are any other can't-miss
books out there.

Thanks,
-Nick

Dan Buettner

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Jan 6, 2008, 5:03:18 PM1/6/08
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Nick, I am currently reading "Practices of an Agile Developer", and think it's great.
http://pragprog.com/titles/pad

It's not language-specific, but instead helps you adopt some new/different approaches to breaking down problems, coding, working with clients and colleagues.  I've been working with the agile approach for some time now, and much prefer it over the more traditional methods I suffered through for many years.

HTH,
Dan

Colin Wheeler

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Jan 6, 2008, 5:19:42 PM1/6/08
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Ooh Comp Sci books, I might as well answer at least part of your question and piggyback and ask an additional question

For Algorithms I originally had a book with Java from school but I didn't like it that much and wanted one dealing with C. AFAIK there is no "must have" book for algorithms with C book (at least when I went around looking for one I couldn't find anybody saying that about one book.) That said O'Reillys Mastering Algorithms with C ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565924533/ref=nosim/deliciousmons-20 ) is a good book, the only thing I don't like about it is his coding style where he makes ridiculously big comments like 

/*****************************************************************
*                                                                                                          *
* Init Method                                                                                     *
*                                                                                                          *
*****************************************************************/

aside from that the content is very good. For managing projects I've gotten what I know from tons of articles online and recommendations from people @ Apple and other developers while I was at WWDC. For some patterns knowing Finite/Concrete Mathematics really helps.

That said Im sorta curious as I've been reorganizing my room and my developer bookshelf is literally bending in from the crap-load of books on it. Every so often I find some really great Comp Sci book that I had no clue about and I am sorta interested what Comp Sci books everybody here has. Here are some of the good books on my bookshelf

Concrete Mathematics - A Foundation for Computer Science ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201558025/ref=nosim/deliciousmons-20 )
The Practice of Programming by Kernighan & Pike ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/020161586X/ref=nosim/deliciousmons-20 )
Introduction to 80X86 Assembly Language & Computer Architecture ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0763717738/ref=nosim/deliciousmons-20 )

So what's on your bookshelf?

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