Blink Monitor

C# 2008 for programmers / Paul J. Deitel, Harvey M. Deitel, Prentice Hall, 2009

Here are 1000+ pages packed with good tutorial material on C#, ASP.NET, WCF, WPF, and Silverlight.

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Linux system programming / Robert Love, O’Reilly, c2007

If you are writing the next universal db converter or such in C on Linux, this book is for you. Linux has many improvements over Unix, and this book is an easily read manual for them.  It covers IO, process and  memory management, signals, and time.  No networking or pthreads.

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Advanced programming in the Unix environment / W. Richard Stevens, Stephen A. Rago, Addison-Wesley, 2005

If you are doing systems programming in C on Unix, this book is indispensable. It is slightly dated, and does not cover the latest improvements in Linux.

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Programming interviews exposed : secrets to landing your next job / John Mongan, Noah Suojanen, Eric Giguère. Wiley Pub., 2007

If you work in technology, whether programming or similar, you probably need to look for new work now and then. This book is the best I have seen for advice on how to interview, negotiate pay, and prepare your resume. Useful to hiring managers too.

There is another way to approach this book.  More than half of the book is programming algorithms that you would learn in undergrad CS, and you can read it to refresh your knowledge.

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Effective C++ : 55 specific ways to improve your programs and designs / Scott Meyers, Addison-Wesley, 2005

Some very useful idioms in C++ are not obvious. For example, making a class non-copyable. Maybe you know of the idiom but don’t know the simplest or cleanest way to apply it. Maybe you have never encountered it. This book discusses some of the most useful ones.

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Linux debugging and performance tuning : tips and techniques / Steve Best, Prentice Hall,  2006

This book is for programmers developing Linux applications, particularly if you have multiple processes or threads.  It has been useful in my current work.  In the open source world there is a profusion of tools available, to the point that it is hard to know which ones to use.  This book reduces your search to the top runners.

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Visual C++ 2008 : how to program / P.J. Deitel, H.M. Deitel, D.T. Quirk. Prentice Hall : 2008.

Almost 1500 pages! A cover sure to wake you if you nod off! I have dipped into this book, and wish I had time to read it all.  It is slightly biased towards Microsoft’s tools, but all c++ programmers will find it valuable.

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C++ GUI programming with Qt 4 / Jasmin Blanchette, Mark Summerfield. Prentice Hall c2008.

Qt is one of the best GUI toolkits for cross platform C++ development. I like this book. Hardcover, 700 pages, a very practical approach, up to date, lots of example code.

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Professional C++ / Nicholas A. Solter, Scott J. Kleper. Wiley, c2005.

Here is everything a programmer needs to get going in C++. It’s a thick book, but it does not cover everything because there are so many details in C++. Job seekers will value the appendix, which lists likely interview questions. Managers who interview programmers will find this useful too.

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Exceptional C++ style : 40 new engineering puzzles, programming problems, and solutions / Herb Sutter. Addison-Wesley, 2005

A book for gurus and aspiring gurus. For non-gurus: you will learn how snarled your C++ coding problems can be. After reading this book you may even reconsider your choice of C++ as a language!

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