To me, a lot of this divide is between books I read cover to cover and books I c... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

revertts on March 26, 2012 | parent | context | favorite | on: Books Programmers Don't Really Read But Recommend

To me, a lot of this divide is between books I read cover to cover and books I consider references or pick up for very specific sections (like "Algorithms on Strings, Trees and Sequences").

CLRS, TAOCP, and Gang of Four are all books I haven't read in their entirety, but have been indispensable for certain topics. I still recommend them to people all the time, and feel perfectly justified doing so.

mturmon on March 26, 2012 [–]

Agreed. But, a lot of the recommendations are written not with the tone you mention, but the tone of, "yeah, I worked my way through the whole book."

In fact, very few do more than read selective chapters (which is OK).

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact