List (and find) recommended programming books here!

List (and find) recommended programming references here!

Hello.

By popular request, we're starting up a thread on recommended programming books. This way, references are all in one place and easy to find. The moderators, in particular, Thelemac, have agreed to help maintain the format of the thread. (Thanks, Thelemac! Please feel free to edit these instructions! ) We'll use a standard format to make the thread easier to read and maintain. Hopefully, as we add more and more listings to this thread, we can group the entries by programming language.

So, to add a reference, please use this format:

Language: <e.g., C++, C, HTML, Java, VB>
Title: <title> , <edition if applicable>
Author: <Last Name>, <First Name>
ISBN: <for easier searching on amazon, etc.>
Top Pros: <what makes you recommend the book?>
Cons: <optional>

If you have a tutorial website to list, please use this format:

Language:
Title: <if applicable>
URL: <type out full URL here -- the forums should create the link>
Top Pros:
Cons: <optional>

I'll get us started:

Language: C++
Title: C++ in Plain English, 3rd Edition
Author: Overland, Brian
ISBN: 0-7645-3545-5
Top Pros: Gives a great crash course in C++, from
memory management to pointers to disk I/O. It
does a particularly good job of explaining classes
and disk I/O, and each concept is followed by an
example. Also, all stdlib functions are listed
alphabetically with examples for each. A good
reference even after you've learned, and easily searched.

Language: C++
Title: A First Book of C++: From Here to There, 2nd Edition
Author: Bronson, Gary J.
ISBN: 0-534-36801-8
Top Pros: EXCELLENT book for C++ beginners. This was my textbook for my college C++ course. There is a great emphasis on structure, which will prove valuable later in programming. After every section are excercises that test what you've read, and the answers to all the odd prob's are in the back of the book. These excercises/answers help TREMENDOUSLY. The 13 page Introduction to Programming section at the beginning of the book would prove very helpful to someone who knows nothing at all about programming and is looking to start somewhere.

This post is adapted from one by naif on another thread:

Language: C
Title: The C Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...rolled/chtm.zip
Top Pros: This is the main tutorial

Language: C
Title: The C Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...rolled/csrc.zipTop Pros: The source code of the examples

Language: C
Title: The C Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...rolled/cans.zip
Top Pros: The answers for the exercises

Language: C++
Title: The C++ Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...lled/cpphtm.zip
Top Pros: This is the main tutorial

Language: C++
Title: The C++ Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...lled/cppsrc.zip
Top Pros: The source code of the examples

Language: C++
Title The C++ Tutorial
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodril...lled/cppans.zipTop Pros: The answers for the excersises

Language: Pascal
Title: ???
URL: ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/dodrill/controlled

hmm, guess I will review a few of the books on my shelf here!

Language: Java
Title: Sam's Teach Yourself Java is 21 Days
Author: Laura Lemay and Rogers Cadenhead
ISBN: 1-57521-390-7
Pros: You've probably seen the "Sam's...' line of books for sale. This particular book did a pretty good job explaining Java. At times it was quite maddening- for example it waits until the final chaptors to explain what the " { }" is for, although you start using them on page one. The 21 days approach is mostly window dressing- I did the first 5 chapters in one sitting, while some of the final chapters took me several days to fully understand.

But on the whole this book gives a very good introduction to Java to anyone who is willing to put some effort into it. At only 635 pages, it is not the most in-depth book you could find. But, after completing all the exercises and reading every chapter thoroughly, I feel that I have as good a grasp on Java as I could possibly get from a book.

Terminology is for the most part explained simply and concisely, with many examples and exercises. Some exercises appear in the first chapters, and keep recurring throughout the book, giving you a chance to see a program evolve to fit certain needs.

There are several different versions of Sam's Teach Yourself Java, matching the different versions of Java itself- I have copies of them all. While they do have many differences, any of them is enough to teach a dedicated student enough about Java for them to create medium-strength applications without problems. Reccommended.

Some more free tutorials :-

Language: C
Title: C Programming by Brian Brown
URL: http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/languages/c/programming-bbrown
Top Pros: Excellent! Thats all I have to say!

Language: C
Title: How C Programming Works
URL: http://www.howstuffworks.com/c.htm
Top Pros: This is also a very good tutorial!

Language: C++
Title: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming using C++
URL: http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/languages/c/c++oop-pmueller/
Top Pros: Quite good I think but it assumes you already know C.

Language: C++
Title: ???
URL: http://www.pragsoft.com/cppbook/cppbook.zip
Top Pros: A highly recommened book for learning C++. This book does not assume any prior programming knowlegde

Language: Perl
Title: O'Reilly : Learning Perl (Llama Book)
Author: Randal L. Schwartz & Tom Phoenix
ISBN: 0-596-00132-0
URL: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lperl3/
Pros: Great book to get you started using perl. It's geared towards people who need to get up and using perl within a few hours. I recommend "Programming Perl" after you've completed this book for a deeper understanding of the language.

Language: Java
Title: Java 2 in Plain English, 3rd Edition
Author: Overland, Brian & Michael Morrison
ISBN: 0-7645-3539-0
Top Pros: Gives a decent crash course in Java and has a lengthy listing and description of the Java API.
Cons: A bit of a difficult read. Helpful if you know C++ first. Not as good as my other Overland reference. (Maybe Michael Morrison was a stick in the mud?)

Language: C/C++
Title: Applied Crptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source in C 2nd Edition
Author: Schneier, Bruce
ISBN: 0-471-11709-9
Top Pros: This is a great book on the topic of Cryptography. Not only does it cover it from a programming stand point, but it also covers algorithms from a security stand point. The book, for the most part, is non-technical. The arthur did a great job at limiting the amount of math and number theory that appears in the book. Source code from several major crypto Algorithms appears in the back of the book (which may make it hard for someone to ship this book outside of the United States).

Cons: Just like any book of this kind, it is continually being outdated. New crypto algorithms are continually being created, and flaws found in old ones. However, no book on this topic would ever escape this downfall.

Language: C
Title: Teach Yourself C in 24 Hours
Author: Zhang, Tony
ISBN: 0-672-31068-6
Top Pros: When they say "Teach yourself C in 24 hours" they mean it. This is an excellent introduction to C, and therefor C++. The book "can" be read in 24 hours, in the sense that it has 24 chapters which only take about an hour to read each. However more time will be take to do the practice programming examples. I am by no means a fast reader, and doing all of the example programs it took me one week to complete this book. By the end of the book you will be able to manipulate files, use structures, and allocate memory from the OS. This book starts out assuming you have never programmed a day before in your life, and leaves you ready to read books for intermediate to advanced C programmers. The book comes with a CD-Rom including a free C compiler.

Cons: No cons come to mind.

Language: C++
Title: C++ How to Program (Third edition)
Author: Deitel & Deitel
ISBN: 0-13-089571-7
Top Pros: I would have never bought this book, if it had not been for the fact that it was required for one of my college classes. I have never heard of the Arthur, and for the most part dont buy books from Prentice Hall. However as it turned out, this book was a sheep in wolfs clothing. This book starts out with an introduction to what C++ is, and therefor where it came from. It covers a good "basic" introduction to the history of programming languages. The book, obviously, starts out assuming you have never programmed in any language. By the end of the book, you should be able to create all kinds of classes, data strucutres, database systems, and files. It also covers Polymorphism, Templates, Exception handling, and the Standard Temple Library (STL). Great book, and you may even be able to find a copy of it used at your local college (good way to save some money). Also this book comes with Microsoft Visuall C++ 6.0 Intro. Edition, so that right there is a nice bonus all its own.

Cons: You will end up using this book as an invaluable reference, and because of that the book will fall apart. I had to duct tape mine together........is this really a con, i guess it just means it got well used .

Language: C++
Title: Same's Teach Yourself Advanced C in 21 Days
Authors: Jones, Bradley L. & Guntle, Gregory L.
ISBN: 0-672-30474-6
Top Pros: Not many....

Cons: The book was good in its time (1994), however has become extremly outdated. It covers some areas of C which are not ANSI compliant. If you are looking for "Advanced" C, i would suggest you learn C++, seriously. You will more than likly not be able to compile most of the examples because of its lack of ANSI compliance, and if you did, they would only work in a DOS system.

Ok, this book is where I learned php at and I've noticed that there are no reviews on php books.

Language: PHP
Title:PHP and MySQL Web Development
Author: Luke Welling and Laura Thomson
ISBN: 0-672-31784-2
Pros: Its a really good book. It starts in very basic php stuff and at the end of the book, it'll get into advanced. This is the only book you need if you want to master php. Some programing books I've noticed only are beginner/intermediate and not advanced. And if there is advanced books, it'll only be advanced, not beginner - advanced. In this book, you learn how to work with mysql and make your web site work very smoothly. There is a cd rom too with all the source code they talk about in the book.

yeh ive been looking for a php book, i found one mainly on writing programs here it is

Language: PHP
Title: MySQL Database/PHP Applications
Author:Jay Greenspan (forgot other guy )
Dont know isbn

its made by mt books here is there website

it comes on a cd with php, mysql and apache server, so theres a lot of good stuff in it, so ermmm.....yes it teachs lots of things, good book, apporx $45 USD can find at most Barnes & Nobles and Border Books.

Language: Assembly
Title: The Art of Assembly Language Programming
URL: http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/AoA.html
Top Pros: None!

You can read this book online if you want to or you can download the html version or the pdf version for offline viewing.

Check out their main page also -> http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/index.html

Language: C++
Title: Standard C++ Bible
Authors: Al Stevens & Clayton Walnum (I got both of them this time )
ISBN:0-7645-4654-6
Top Pros: It teaches you loads and loads of stuff, you will learn enough to get a good start in programming. Many projects to make in the book. It comes with all of the cource code in the book, on a CD-ROM. On the CD-ROM is Al Steven's compiler, Quincy-99.
Top Cons:The book is very big, and may turn you away from learning from a book. The compiler that comes with the book isn't all too great, but works excellent for the stuff in the book.

*NOTE*I havent finished the book, but am about half way through. As with any programming book, you should read it more than once if you are starting with the language from knowing nothing!*NOTE*

Language: Visual Basic 6
Title: Visual Basic 6 Complete
Author: *Many*
ISBN: 81-7656-078-2
Top Pros: In a way, one of the finest reference/how-to book I have seen.

Language: HTML
Title: HTML Black Book
Author: Steven Holzner
ISBN: 81-7722-086-1
Top Pros: Covers mostly everything about HTML(i.e. all the tags and all) and has some additional chapters covering Javascript, Style Sheets, bit of Java, XML, Perl and cgi scripting using Perl.

Language: C++
Title: C++ How to Program (4th Edition)
Author: Harvey M. Deitel and Paul J. Deitel
ISBN: 0130384747
Top Pros: Only went through the first few chapters, but from that only it seemed like a very good book for learning C++ from

Language: Turbo Pascal
Title: Turbo Pascal 7.0 (4th Edition)
Author: Walter J. Savitch
ISBN: 0805304185
Top Pros: Quite nice

Language: C++
Title: Problem Solving with C++
Author: Walter Savitch
ISBN: 0301703904
Top Pros: The book I learned C++ from in college. Very easy reading and gives many great examples of how code is to be used.

Language: PHP
Title: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL
Author: Kevin Yank
ISBN: 0957921802
Pros: Great book for the beginner in PHP. This was my 3rd php book but it was highly recommended by many people who i talked to. Does a great job of leading you through code step by step so you understand the concepts. I use this book a lot a quick reference for stuff.

Cons: Not very many advanced techniques.

Language: OpenGL
Title: OpenGL Programming Guide, 3rd Edition
Author: Woo, Mason et. al. (OpenGL Architecture Review Board)
ISBN: 0201604582
Top Pros: A good explanation of graphics concepts in 2D and 3D, and does a good job of explaining the OpenGL implementation of those concepts. Useful for Windows and Linux environments. Well-Explained.
Cons: Explanation of buffers / animation a little lacking, but not too bad.

Well If you ever need any help at all with a program in Basic, go to
www.qbasic.com and post the question on their forums, all i have to say is wow, seriously quick response times on their forums, i mean any question at all. i know that Basic is an old programming language but these guys still know how to use it very well.

Language: Java
Title: Java 2: The Complete Refence [Fifth Edition]
Author: Herbert Schildt
ISBN: 0-07-222420-7
Top Pros: Does exactly what is says on the tin. Provides details description on common Java classes, and good explanation of all Java concepts. Concept details are introduced so as to also serve as an excellent tutorial book.

Language: Any web based
Title: W3Schools
URL: http://www.w3schools.com/
Top Pros: Excellent tutorials and references for just about every web technology you can think of.

Language: Java
Title: Java Au Naturel
Author: Dr. William C. Jones, Jr.
URL: http://www.javabook.org
Top Pros: Excellent online book which my professor uses in our class. It's easy to understand and provides several great examples. It includes a brief introduction to computers and programming, and it is organized, IMO, in a logical and comprehensive sequence.