Some technical books provide a great introduction to a language or technology, but once they've been read through once they never come down from the shelf again. Others provide a complete API reference but tend to be less useful then web-based documentation. Some books, however, not only introduce you to a new way of doing things but also...
more »Some technical books provide a great introduction to a language or technology, but once they've been read through once they never come down from the shelf again. Others provide a complete API reference but tend to be less useful then web-based documentation. Some books, however, not only introduce you to a new way of doing things but also provide an essential insight into that "one big idea" that pulls everthing together along with the most important reference material. You'll find yourself pulling books like these off the shelves again and again, perhaps even bookmarking sections you refer too often.
In the Developer's Reference Library group, we're going to try to identify books that fall into this third category. Every month we'll add a new book to the shelf, participants in the group will take a look at it and at the end of the month we'll decide if it's good enough to stay on the shelf. When we have enough people in the group, I'd like to see everyone take turns nominating a book for the library.
We're strong believers in generalism, any technical book is acceptable. It could be an introductory text on a new (or not so new) language, an introduction to a particular technology or API, or even something less computer specific that will clearly be of interest to other developers. We're platform agnostic, any technology is suitable for the shelf. The key to any successful project is using the best tool for the job.
Join this group and help us pick out that next great reference book!
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