27/01/2022
How not to get lost in a huge amount of educational literature on programming?
📚 If you have just begun studying a certain technology and your knowledge is still chaotic, then you should start with tutorials. Such books cover the most important aspects and analyze the basic language/technology concepts.
For example, you are learning JavaScript, PHP or Python. What books should you focus on?
▪️ “JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly Media. The 7th updated edition contains chapters on classes, modules, iterators, promises, async/await and much more.
▪️ "PHP 8. Objects, Patterns, and Practice”. The 6th edition of 2021 has been updated according to the 8th version of PHP language. The new features of this language are described in detail in this book.
▪️ Mark Lutz “Learning Python”. The beginner gets all the necessary information from this book. The book provides insights into the language and also structures your knowledge. You will find the answers not only to “how?” but also to “why?”.
☝️ There are dozens of books on each programming language. Many of them are aimed at practice. So you have to “cut your teeth” to strengthen your knowledge.
If you already have practical experience and have a desire to study theory, I recommend reading the following books:
▪️ “Grokking Algorithms” is for those who want to master algorithms and data structures.
▪️ “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs” is a classic book about programming and basic programming concepts.
▪️ “Clean Code” can be seen almost on all the top lists. You will learn how to write code, so that it is understandable to others, simple and concise, without any unnecessary comments. It is better to study this book after you gain some experience in order to perceive the information more critically.
📖 As a rule, such literature is not for one evening. It takes many days to master and understand at least a small part of the material described. Therefore, you have to choose the book consciously. Do not chase the quantity. In this case, the most effective strategy is to read several books, study the examples and practice them to consolidate knowledge.