A question is often asked: should I read books to become a better developer? Usually, the answer is yes, and the reason for that is that the person who wrote the book wrote it when (s)he was the most invited to write it with the most extensive knowledge base then. The only better option would be to work with that person, which is often impossible.
Yet many people need to read more, which means if you read books, you will be ahead of others by a few marks; however, when asking which books, you will get different answers from different people, as there are so many topics in the software engineering area.
During the years, I developed a routine of reading a lot of books, so taking into account my own experience, the experience of many peers I spoke with, as well as other sources that compiled similar lists [1][2][3][4][5] (some of them using analytics to calculate the score), I compiled a list of the greatest books that every software developer should read in one point in a career.
To take a short note, just reading these books will not make you a great developer; you will need years of development, but you will get insights into some guiding principles that you could apply. In addition, by reading them, you will avoid making common mistakes in development.
This list needs to be completed, as there are always some new and good books, but these impacted carriers of many software developers. They are mostly language-agnostic, so they can be applied using any programming language.
1. Clean Code
One of the greatest software development books ever written by Uncle Bob Martin in 2008. It is written to teach software engineers the principles of writing clean programming code. There are a lot of examples inside, showing how to refactor code to be more readable and maintainable. In addition, it includes chapters for common mistakes made by all kinds of programmers and chapters for explaining SOLID principles of object-oriented design. Even though examples in the book are made in Java, it is equally helpful for other object-oriented programming languages.
In addition to this book, there are more books in the Uncle Bob series, such as Clean Coder, Clean Architecture, etc.
2. The Pragmatic Programmer
This book is filled with technical and practical advice for developers to improve. It examines what it means to be a modern developer by going through topics that range from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques. Even though it was written in 1999, it is still valid in many aspects. The unique thing about this book is that it teaches you a pragmatic way with a collection of tips to improve the development process. Authors, for example, advise readers to learn one text editor and use it for everything and also recommend using version-tracking software for even the most minor projects.
3. Code Complete
Some people consider this book one of the best practical guides to programming, and it is strongly recommended for beginners. Again, one of the books written more than 15 years ago is still valid today. It deals with design, coding, debugging, and testing. In more than 900 pages, the authors describe how to write programs for people first and then for computers second, how to divide your code in terms of domains, and how to master the human qualities of top coders (humility, curiosity, and the most important, keep your ego in check).
