Programming Books with Category

From the Bottom Up

This list is in the best reading order I could find. It’s not necessarily easiest to
hardest, but based on subject matter.

• Programming from the Ground Up by Jonathan Bartlett
• Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, and Ronald L. Rivest
• The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth (3 volume set - volume 1 is the most important)
• Programming Languages by Samuel N. Kamin
• Modern Operating Systems by Andrew Tanenbaum
• Linkers and Loaders by John Levine
• Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface by David Patterson and John Hennessy

From the Top Down

These books are arranged from the simplest to the hardest. However, they can be
read in any order you feel comfortable with.

• How to Design Programs by Matthias Felleisen, Robert Bruce Findler, Matthew Flatt, and Shiram Krishnamurthi, available online at http://www.htdp.org/
• Simply Scheme: An Introduction to Computer Science by Brian Harvey and Matthew Wright
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python by Allen
Downey, Jeff Elkner, and Chris Meyers, available online at http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman, available online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
• Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides
• What not How: The Rules Approach to Application Development by Chris Date
• The Algorithm Design Manual by Steve Skiena
• Programming Language Pragmatics by Michael Scott
• Essentials of Programming Languages by Daniel P. Friedman, Mitchell Wand, and Christopher T. Haynes

From the Middle Out

Each of these is the best book on its subject. If you need to know these languages,
these will tell you all you need to know.
• Programming Perl by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Jon Orwant
• Common LISP: The Language by Guy R. Steele
• ANSI Common LISP by Paul Graham
• The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
• The C++ Primer by Stanley Lippman
• The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup
• Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel, available online at http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/
• The Scheme Programming Language by Kent Dybvig
• Linux Assembly Language Programming by Bob Neveln

Specialized Topics

These books are the best books that cover their topic. They are thorough and
authoritative. To get a broad base of knowledge, you should read several outside of
the areas you normally program in.
• Practical Programming - Programming Pearls and More Programming Pearls by Jon Louis Bentley
• Databases - Understanding Relational Databases by Fabian Pascal
• Project Management - The Mythical Man-Month by Fred P. Brooks
• UNIX Programming - The Art of UNIX Programming by Eric S. Raymond, available online at http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/
• UNIX Programming - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by W.Richard Stevens
• Network Programming - UNIX Network Programming (2 volumes) by W.Richard Stevens
• Generic Programming - Modern C++ Design by Andrei Alexandrescu
• Compilers - The Art of Compiler Design: Theory and Practice by Thomas Pittman and James Peters
• Compilers - Advanced Compiler Design and Implementation by Steven Muchnick
• Development Process - Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, and Don Roberts
• Typesetting - Computers and Typesetting (5 volumes) by Donald Knuth
• Cryptography - Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier
• Linux - Professional Linux Programming by Neil Matthew, Richard Stones, and 14 other people
• Linux Kernel - Linux Device Drivers by Alessandro Rubini and Jonathan Corbet
• Open Source Programming - The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond
• Computer Architecture - Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by David Patterson and John Hennessy

Further Resources on Assembly Language

In assembly language, your best resources are on the web.
• http://www.linuxassembly.org/ - a great resource for Linux assembly language programmers
• http://www.sandpile.org/ - a repository of reference material on x86, x86-64, and compatible processors
• http://www.x86.org/ - Dr. Dobb’s Journal Microprocessor Resources
• http://www.drpaulcarter.com/pcasm/ - Dr. Paul Carter’s PC Assembly Language
• http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/ - The Art of Assembly Home Page
• http://www.intel.com/design/pentium/manuals/ - Intel’s manuals for their processors
• http://www.janw.easynet.be/ - Jan Wagemaker’s Linux assembly language examples
• http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/asm.html - Paul Hsieh’s x86 Assembly Page