OT: best book in years

[Patrick Useldinger]

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

-Patrick

 

[Peter Hansen]

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

This sounds like a good opportunity to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance" (by Robert Pirsig) if you have not already. It's certainly
about IT, and ties into "The Zen of Python" (by Tim Peters) nicely, too.

(Failing that, or if you've already read it, I'd suggest one of the XP
books, probably the white one as it was first, or the TDD book, and either
way Kent Beck gets your money.

-Peter

 

[Paul Rubin]

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and
am trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come
across anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I
would like to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have
read in the last few years, about Python or IT in general.

Security Engineering, by Ross Anderson

 

[John Roth]

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

I'd suggest "Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit" by
Mary and Tom Poppendieck. It applies the concepts of Lean
Manufacturing to software development. It's mercifully silent on
specific Agile methodologies, but covers all of the theoretical
underpinnings that will let you understand why they work, and why
conventional software development methodologies have problems.
Chapter 1 enumerates the seven categories of waste, and introduces
you to value stream mapping as a tool.
Chapter 2 covers quality, learning, feedback, iterations, synchronization
and set-based development (actually set-based decision making).
Chapter 3 states why one should defer decisions as late as possible,
and covers concurrent development, options thinking, the last responsible
moment and making decisions
Chapter 4 covers rapid delivery, including pull systems, queueing theory
and the cost of delay.
Chapter 5 covers team empowerment, including a scathing critique of
Taylorism, the CMM and CMMi, team self-determination, motivation,
leadership and expertise.
Chapter 6 covers integrity, including perceived integrity (the customer's
view), conceptual integrity (the developer's view), refactoring and testing.
Chapter 7 covers seeing the whole, measurements, the problems with
attempting to optimize individual pieces of a process (suboptimization)
and contracts.

While I consider myself as somewhat of an XP fan, this has shaken
up what I thought I knew and given me a whole different perspective
on what works, what doesn't and most importantly, why.

John Roth

 

[John J. Lee]

This sounds like a good opportunity to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance" (by Robert Pirsig) if you have not already. It's certainly
about IT, and ties into "The Zen of Python" (by Tim Peters) nicely, too.

Don't read it, it's a pile of junk. IMNSHO.

(Failing that, or if you've already read it, I'd suggest one of the XP
books, probably the white one as it was first, or the TDD book, and either
way Kent Beck gets your money.

A much better idea.

Another one, that comes to mind for two reasons: "Secrets and Lies" by
Bruce Schneier. First, it's fascinating and informative stuff on the
subject of real-world computer security, but second, it's a pleasure
to read, and often quite funny. If you insist on reading something
technical while in hospital, this will at least make you smile from
time to time!

In the same area, an even more fun and readable book, "The Cuckoo's
Egg" by Clifford Stoll. You've probably heard of it before -- sold a
lot of copies, I think. A ripping yarn about the 'true story' (it
really is a true story, but who knows how much elaboration and
reconstruction it underwent for the book ;-) of how Cliff unearthed a
hacker in the early days of wide-area networking. You won't put it
down.


John

 

[John J. Lee]

Security Engineering, by Ross Anderson

Yes! Haven't read the book, but looking at the breadth and depth of
his work makes you wonder what the computer security world would do
without this guy (and his grad. students, no doubt .


John

 

[GerritM]

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

-Patrick

During the holidays I have been reading Michael Crighton's book "Airframe".
This is a nice thriller at the one hand, but I also liked it from
professional perspective: the design of very complex, software intensive,
systems. Unfortunately I don't know how much of the story is the authors
fantasy and how close other parts might be to reality.

regards Gerrit

 

[Markus Wankus]

I found Neil Stephenson's Crytonomicon to be VERY entertaining. Didn't
learn much new about computers or crypto, but quite a yarn nonetheless.
There's enough in there to say it has some "IT" involved...

 

[Alan Gauld]

to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

IT Architectures and Middleware by Chris Broitton was a good read
- but probably only if you are involvced in building big
enterprise wide systems.

I'm currently reading Robert Glass's book "Facts and Fallacies of
Software Engineering" which is thought provoking and reminds us
how little real progress we've made inthe last 30 years.

And if you haven't already read it you owe it to yourself to read
the "Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs" (aka SICP
and available online if you want a sample). Warning: It could
change how you think about programming!

And finally, I keep going back to Jon Bentley's "Programming
Pearls" - I believe now available in a single volume. Words of
wisdom on every page there.

HTH,

Alan G.
Author of the Learn to Program website
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld

 

[Peter Hansen]

Don't read it, it's a pile of junk. IMNSHO.

Are you trying to start the book-burning thread again?

-Peter

 

[Michael Peuser]

Are you trying to start the book-burning thread again?

To my unbiased ;-) opinion it *is* overestimated. But it a good supplement
to C.P Snow's "Two Culture Theory". It might be disapponting for somone who
seeks simple help for software development....

Kindly
Michael P

 

[Peter Hansen]

To my unbiased ;-) opinion it *is* overestimated. But it a good supplement
to C.P Snow's "Two Culture Theory". It might be disapponting for somone who
seeks simple help for software development....

Perhaps, but I would have been happier to see a bunch of
suggestions for Mr. Useldinger to read, without the negative
comments about others' suggestions. Just doesn't feel right
to me. Call me mildly ticked, is all.

-Peter

 

[Thomas Guetttler]

Am Thu, 04 Sep 2003 20:16:59 +0200 schrieb Patrick Useldinger:

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

Hi Patrick,

I suggest the Python Cookbook.

thomas

 

[Alex Martelli]

trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

I see you got a lot of excellent recommendations (none Python-related,
that I've seen, though -- oh well!) and I just thought I'd add mine...:


Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices
by Robert C. Martin, Prentice Hall

just about the book I wanted to write myself -- *except* that
all examples are in Java and C++, while I would have chosen
Python and Ruby. But if you can stomach reading Java and C++,
this is VERY worth reading.


Agile Modeling: Effective Practices for Extreme Programming and the Unified
Process -- by Scott W. Ambler, John Wiley

most XP / Agile development books underplay any artefacts that
aren't code -- Ambler shows convincingly how and why "modeling"
artefacts may play a crucial role in such dev't processes, and
does so in an extremely readable way.


Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
by Louis V. Gerstner Jr., HarperBusiness

If you're at all curious how IBM was turned around (I was, having
left IBM just before its crisis became visible and being left with
substantial fondness for that firm), this book will prove quite
interesting indeed.



Alex

 

[N D Efford]

Security Engineering, by Ross Anderson

Yes, read this for its broad-ranging coverage.

Then, being a coder, why not look at the O'Reilly book
"Secure Coding: Principles and Practices", or Viega and McGraw's
"Building Secure Software". Every C/C++ programmer should be
locked up until they've read these, and Pythoneers will probably
find much that is interesting and useful therein.


Nick

 

[Alan James Salmoni]

Hi Patrick,

"When wizards stay up late" (Hafner & Lyon) - about the "birth" of the
internet and the people around it. I managed to read it twice in a
couple of months, and it describes a bit of computing history that has
had a profound effect on all of us. Call this extremely geeky, but I
love the idea of tinkering around with the old machines described in
that book. I'll have to search for a simulator when I get a spare few
hours! I found it full of detail (not too technical, but lots of
historical info), but fascinating to read, especially that J.C.R.
Licklider was a psychophysicist!

Or of course, "the art of computer programming" by Donald Knuth, which
is the classic text about our field. Knuth strikes me as one of the
best programmers to have existed. Anyone who can write something as
complex and useful as TeX and have as few bug reports, well, they've
got to be respected! And there are 3 volumes, so there's plenty to get
through. I must confess that I haven't read it myself (again, so
little time), but it's supposed to be one of the seminal texts, and I
must get around to it...

Hope your hospital stay isn't too long!

Alan James Salmoni
SalStat Statistics
http://salstat.sunsite.dk

 

[Mark Jackson]

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and am
trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

/The Mythical Man-Month/.

 

[Cameron Laird]

.
.
.

had a profound effect on all of us. Call this extremely geeky, but I
love the idea of tinkering around with the old machines described in
that book. I'll have to search for a simulator when I get a spare few
hours! I found it full of detail (not too technical, but lots of

.
.
.
The opportunities here are greater than you might realize.
There's a great deal of amateur "retro-computing" activity:
enthusiasts with PDP11s in their basement, and so on. A
distinct, but equally engaging area, is that of emulators;
wonderful work has been done to recreate the behavior of
antique systems. While some of it is ill-maintained, I
try to point to only the highlights in <URL:
http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.os.misc/emulators.html >.

 

[Chris Reedy]

Hi All,

I am going to stay in hospital for a week or so (nothing serious), and
am trying to find a book or two to read there. As I have not come across
anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would
like to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in
the last few years, about Python or IT in general.

-Patrick

This one's been out a few years, but I really enjoyed it when I got it
as a Christman gift:

Why Buildings Falls Down by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori

It's an easy read and a good education in the kinds of "bugs" that
infect building construction -- something that's always held up to
software types as an example of a mature engineering discipline.

Chris

 

[Don Hiatt]

anything spectacular recently (except Python in a Nutshell), I would like
to know what *you* consider to be the best book you have read in the last
few years, about Python or IT in general.

Although not a python book, you might find "Emma Goldman: A
Documentary History of the American Years, 1" good for your soul (just
like python).

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9079.html

Cheers,

don