I actively disrecommend Code Complete. I bought the first edition back when I uncritically acquired everything with a Jolt Award logo. It's a pile of tautologies and common sense. It tries to teach stuff that is best learned through experience.
K&R was my second C book, and I love it for its authenticity, but I learned more from Kelly & Pohl's "A Book on C".
The Mythical Man Month I read in anger after a project failed. It not only resonated with me, but cheered me up.
Programming Pearls can't be "read" in the usual way, it's something I flip through when facing particular problems, but generally I savor it (ended up selling my copy after my 2 year backpacking trip, back when I swore I'll never write software again .. oops!)
Effective Java (C++) are practitioner lore. Their teachings have been subsumed by the language community and you can see it in code bases.
My advice is to learn to use your favorite editor with a TAGS file, then go navigate through a large open source project, and extend it in some minor way. That's more profitable than enduring any book on "design".
I never cared for "Pragmatic" or "Test-driven" or "Agile" publications.
K&R was my second C book, and I love it for its authenticity, but I learned more from Kelly & Pohl's "A Book on C".
The Mythical Man Month I read in anger after a project failed. It not only resonated with me, but cheered me up.
Programming Pearls can't be "read" in the usual way, it's something I flip through when facing particular problems, but generally I savor it (ended up selling my copy after my 2 year backpacking trip, back when I swore I'll never write software again .. oops!)
Effective Java (C++) are practitioner lore. Their teachings have been subsumed by the language community and you can see it in code bases.
My advice is to learn to use your favorite editor with a TAGS file, then go navigate through a large open source project, and extend it in some minor way. That's more profitable than enduring any book on "design".
I never cared for "Pragmatic" or "Test-driven" or "Agile" publications.