The Psychology of Computer Programming

The Elements of Programming Style by Kernighan and Plauger Software Tools by Kernighan and Plauger The Psychology of Computer Programming by Weinberg A cartoon-illustrated DIY Honda Civic repair book from the 80's I no longer remember the name of.

I read this some quarter century ago. It was about a quarter century old then. It was a big influence. Prompted by this comment, I'm reading it again. Holy cow, this is better than I remembered. So relevant too; it's hard to keep in mind that this is from before Unix. The author was involved in numerous cognitive experiments with programmers, and also as a teacher. His group researched programming language development. So a lot of it is from that angle. The book is full of interesting anecdotes and gems of wisdom.

The psychology of Computer Programming, Gerald Weinberg, 1971.

The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg. There's a silver anniversary edition, that's the one to get. It has the author's commentary framing each chapter where he reflects on the contents.

The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg. Some dated language (which he calls out himself in the 25th anniversary edition), but overall very good. A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout, short book, quick read. I'll be rereading it once I figure out which bookshelf my wife hid it on (she doesn't like my bookstack approach to "organizing" and moved many things to shelves while I wasn't paying attention).

The psychology of computer programming. I recently read that one and it made me see my profession as a software engineer in a new light. At work, I catch myself using possessive pronouns about code a lot for example. It really shone a nice light on the human element and how we reason and think about code and programming. Really recommend reading that one!