As far as I know every year Google gives away free (as in beer) books to GSoC approved students during the program (one book per student, of course). If you are a GSoCer and still didn’t received your copy, STOP READING NOW (whether you want to have a nice surprise).
Okay, so you received book too or aren’t a GSoCer for this summer if you are reading this (maybe you don’t even like surprises, but that’s on your hands).
The book is Beautiful Code.
10 seconds after I opened the envelope.
Let me quote back cover synopsis.
This unique and insightful book is a collection of master classes in software design. In each chapter, today’s leading programmers walk through elegant solutions to hard problems, and explain what makes those solutions so appealing.
This is not simply another design patterns book, or another software engineering treatise on the right and wrong ways to do things. Instead, it gives you the chance to look over the shoulder of some superb software designers and see the world through their eyes.
Thirty-eight master coders think aloud as they work through a project’s architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and those moments when it was important to break the rules.
This sounds divine, doesn’t it? This is the kind of books my computer science bookshelf deserves. This is not one of those Learn-Mega-Language-In-24-Days-or-Hours I dislike. Instead, it is a time-awareness piece of knowledge.
Although I haven’t read it yet, it seems promising. These are some of the authors of the essays:
- Brian Kernighan.
- Karl Fogel.
- Jon Bentley.
- Charles Petzold.
- Simon Peyton Jones (This man rocks. Long live Haskell!).
- Yukihiro Matsumoto.
Just to name a few, they are many others as great as them.
P.S: This is my first book I am given as a present. No body has ever made me such a gift and, for the record, I was about buying this book. Thanks Google!!!
Preemptive snarky comment: Hey Microsofties, giving free DotNetMania’s Cuadernos Técnicos in Microsoft’s trade shows or .NET user groups meetings doesn’t represent my opinion about what BOOKS should be. Sorry, but I must state this clearly.
I’ve already read that book, and albeit it seems promising at the outset, it’s NOT a good book. They created a good hype with the “Beautiful Code” thing, I concede. The book comprises several articles/recollections by some important researchers and scientist of the computing field. But such texts are not beautiful, they are rather subjective, even presumptuous in a few cases.
I think we would be better off by reading this review in Amazon.com beforehand:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1W0YZZWT53Y9M/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
I agree with that review, 100%
Of course, my comment applies only to those wanting to buy this book. Think it over. But for you, who received the book for free… Congratulations! Enjoy it :-)
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation :) Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Mitchell