If you are into the history of how it all came about, "The Dream  
Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing  
personal" is a good read.  It is a little dense at times, but well  
worth the read.

ISBN: 014200135X

-nruest

On Sep 9, 2009, at 4:15 PM, Jon Gorman wrote:

> For those who enjoyed "The Mythical Man-Month" I'd also recommend
> Peopleware (not the software, the book ;) ).
>
> Jon
>
> On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 2:58 PM, stuart  
> yeates<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I can't speak highly enough about "The Mythical Man-Month," by Fred  
>> P.
>> Brooks (1975).
>>
>> Let's just say that when they issued the 20th anniversary edition,  
>> they
>> didn't need to update the examples in the text.
>>
>> cheers
>> stuart
>>
>>
>> Sharon Foster wrote:
>>>>
>>>> From my software engineering days, I like Steve McConnell's "Code
>>>
>>> Complete" and "Software Project Survival Guide;" "The Mythical
>>> Man-Month," by Fred P. Brooks; "Joel On Software" by Joel Spolsky  
>>> (who
>>> also has a blog); and "The Elements of Programming Style," by  
>>> Kernigan
>>> and Plauger. K&R is directed at the C programming language, but  
>>> there
>>> are enough similarities in syntax with PHP, Java, and a lot of other
>>> web developer languages that I think it's still relevant.
>>>
>>> Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
>>> Technology Librarian
>>> http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Robert Fox<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Since this list has librarians, hard core programmers and hybrid
>>>> librarian programmers on it, this is probably a good place to ask  
>>>> this sort
>>>> of question.
>>>>
>>>> I'm looking for some book recommendations. I've read a lot of  
>>>> technical
>>>> books on how to work with specific kinds of technology, read a  
>>>> lot of online
>>>> technical "how tos" and that has been good as far as it goes. But,
>>>> technology changes too fast to be wed to one particular programming
>>>> language, database technology, metadata standard, etc. I'm  
>>>> interested in
>>>> finding books that speak to the issues of programming  
>>>> methodology, design
>>>> principles, lessons learned, etc. that transcend any particular  
>>>> programming
>>>> technology. Are there good books that distill the wisdom and  
>>>> experience of
>>>> veteran developers and /or communicate best practices for things  
>>>> like design
>>>> patterns, overall software architecture, learning from mistakes,  
>>>> the
>>>> developer mindset and such things?
>>>>
>>>> Could you recommend perhaps the top three or four books you've  
>>>> read in
>>>> these areas?
>>>>
>>>> Rob Fox
>>>> Hesburgh Libraries
>>>> University of Notre Dame
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Stuart Yeates
>> http://www.nzetc.org/       New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
>> http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/     Institutional Repository
>>

------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Ruest
Digital Strategies Librarian

McMaster University
Mills Memorial Library
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON L8S 4L6
Phone: 905.525.9140 ext. 21276
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://library.mcmaster.ca/contact/ruest-nicholas
http://nruest.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/
------------------------------------------------------------

"Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something  
fashioned to a particular decade.  It is a personal process embedded  
in the human spirit." - Abbie Hoffman