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Plan for Bil Simser

Name:	Bil Simser
Date Posted:	Jul 06, 2004
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The Programmers Essential Bookshelf

Things have changed since I started programming back in the 80s. However there are a few truths that are universal. Here's my list of the essential books all programmers, designers, coders, architects, etc. should have in their repository as mandatory reference/reading. Also if you're hiring new people out of University or something, giving them this stack would be a good way to introduce them into the world.

Code Complete (2nd Edition coming soon)
Eric Evan's Domain Driven Design
Design Patterns
Kent Beck's Test Driven Development: By Example
Martin Fowler's Refactoring: Improving the Design of Code
UML Distilled

There are others that are great too (and I'm sure people will have more):

Rapid Development
The Pragmatic Programmer
Agile Project Management with Scrum

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List:	08/07/04 - Plan for Bil Simser 07/06/04 - Plan for Bil Simser 07/01/04 - Plan for Bil Simser 05/10/04 - Plan for Bil Simser 07/09/03 - Plan for Bil Simser 07/01/03 - Plan for Bil Simser 06/28/03 - Plan for Bil Simser 06/26/03 - Plan for Bil Simser

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Prairie Games (Jul 06, 2004 at 04:43 GMT)

I don't have a single one of those books.

Greg Ellwood (Jul 06, 2004 at 07:10 GMT)

I have 4 of those books.. Code Complete is one of my fav's :)

-Greg.

Paul Dana (Jul 06, 2004 at 14:39 GMT)

Code complete and Design Patterns are exellent books.

For the graphics programmer I would add

Computer Graphics, second edition Foley & Van Damm
Graphics Games I-V (or whatever they are up to)

Phil Carlisle (Jul 06, 2004 at 16:43 GMT)

Meh, foley is just too old and lame. :) hahaha.. no, its a good "all topics" book, but no really that useful in modern ways.

I'd suggest Moller & Haines "Realtime Rendering" as a more up-to-date alternative.

I'll also suggest ALL of the "gems" series (graphics + games), all of the "AIWisdom" series (all two that is). All pretty high quality info straight from the horses mouth.

I'm not massively into those "design patterns" books myself. Although I suspect they are useful. Personally, I'd recommend a book about algorithmic design than programming per-se, something like "Introduction to Algorithms" by cormen et al (MIT press, GOOOOOD book).

Meh, just get yourself to your local university library and leech as much and as often as possible! (by the way, using the internet is NOT a replacement for literature search). Go get some SIGGRAPH journals and learn where Carmack stole his ideas!

Kevin Ryan (Jul 07, 2004 at 00:27 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Hey - there's a name from the past! Kent and I did our senior software project together (many years ago).

X-Tatic (Jul 07, 2004 at 01:32 GMT)

I have one off that list - UML distilled, and also the AI Game PRogramming wisdom mentioned by phil.

mentioning a few others:

OpenGL Game Programming
3D Game Programming all in one
Maths for 3d game programming and computer graphics.
Requirements Analysis and System Design
UML and C++(a practical guide to oo development)
Begninning C++ (Ivor Horton)
Edited on Jul 07, 2004 01:38 GMT

Glen Rosenblatt (Jul 07, 2004 at 19:24 GMT)

C++ in a nutshell or any similar quickreference book comes in handy too. On a side note i would recommend that any project manager or game designer whether they have programming skill or not take a read through Pragmatic Programmer before they begin work on a game project of any scale. [edit] and Rapid development as well, sorry missed that one. I have read both and they are indispensable for people who *think* that they know how to run a project :) [/edit]
Edited on Jul 08, 2004 02:10 GMT

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