The first edition of Programming Pearls was published by
Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1986.
ISBN 0-201-10331-1.
195 + viii pp.
I talked about how much I enjoyed the first edition when I described why I wrote a second edition. Other people like the book, too.
Steve McConnell put Programming Pearls on the Top-Ten List in his Code Complete. He says that the book is ``a vigorous discussion of programming that articulates the reasons that some of us find programming so interesting. The fact that the information isn't comprehensive or rigidly organized doesn't prevent it from conveying powerful insights that you'll read in a few minutes and use for many years.''
In an Association of C and C++ Users Book Review Francis Glassborow says that it ``is another of those rare computing books that manages to stand the test of time'' and that ``it has a place on every programmer's bookshelf''.
Programming Pearls made the list of Great Books that Gregory V. Wilson prepared for Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books. The book is also described in Ray Duncan's Confessions of an Efficient Coder in the same series.
The first edition of Programming Pearls earned five stars at Amazon.com. The readers' comments include ``a gem'', ``the small book is itself a pearl'', ``a manual with hacker spirit!'', and ``best book about how to `think' for software engineering''.
K. N. King put Programming Pearls on his list of recommended books. ``The author's light touch makes the book as enjoyable to read as it is informative.''
Other comments on Programming Pearls: enough fresh insights to make this a real bookshelf treasure [a book] that I think everyone should read [a book] that changed me lots of useful lessons in the craft an important, classic book clever language solutions to common programming problems one of the best books I know on general issues in programming list of recommended programming books very entertaining articles books I can recommend a brilliant book one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received
From Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People, by Michael Cusumano and Richard Selby (The Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc., NY, NY, 1995), p. 112:
``The mentoring system? Actually, that's not broken.... There are certain things, certain algorithmic techniques and things. But give the guy a copy of Programming Pearls, make sure he's read through the thing and understands everything in there. Show him a piece of code. Ask him some questions about it....''
Copyright © 1999 Lucent Technologies. All rights reserved. Thu 30 Sep 1999