Books for Great Programmers

Want to be a great programmer?

Here are a list of books that are must-reads for any great programmer, whether you work on the web, on mobile devices, for desktop software, or for NASA. They are language-independent and focus on the craft of programming, as drawn from real-world experience.

When I was a software engineering manager, I’d either have my team read these books, or cover chapters of them collaboratively during team meetings. The engineers who really read and applied these books were always noticeably better programmers.

• Code Complete
  by Steve McConnell

  This classic book is THE book on great programming.

• Head First Design Patterns
  by Elisabeth Freeman, et al.

  Personally, I like the Head First series and love design patterns.

• Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think
  by Andy Oram & Greg Wilson

  This is a new book that contains bits of advice from great programmers.

• The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering
  by Frederick Brooks

  Though this classic book is aimed at managers, great programmers will enjoy it too.

• Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
  by Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister

  Another classic book for managers and great programmers.

Yea, it’s a short list. I don’t want my programmers to spend all of their time reading, right? Heh.

What other books do you think are must-reads for great programmers?