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Geek Culture / Valued books?

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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 15th Oct 2010 12:49 Edited at: 15th Oct 2010 12:55
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I'm just wondering, what are some valued books that people keep around? I have a couple that I use for reference, am currently munching through, or plan to. Heres some notable ones I use:

How not to Program in C++
Electronics Projects for Young Scientists
Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics
Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics
Complex Analysis - Lars Ahlfors

These are all books that I would try to find another copy of, if I ever lost one of them.

In the mail I have "The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles"... But I don't know if I'll ever get the time to look through it...
It describes the system that person who is building the computer in Minecraft is implementing.


Anyone else have cool and useful books like these?

Oh yeah, I also have (i mean... My dad has...) a bunch of reference books on languages, that I open if the internet ever craps out

[edit]
In case anyone's wondering what all those books are about, How not to Program in C++ shows a bunch of programs in C++ that looks like they should run fine, but in fact crash or return unexpected results. Electronics Projects for Young Scientists just contains a bunch of projects, with circuit diagrams and explanations of stuff. Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics and Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics are interchangeable. If I'm doing a lot of transformations or trying to figure out texture stuff, I turn to these books. Complex Analysis is way over my head (I don't know enough calculus or set theory or whatever to solve a lot of the problems), but I'm trying to trudge through it.

If, for some reason, I get a chance to go on a vacation to a remote cabin in the woods, I'll bring these books

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the_winch
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Posted: 16th Oct 2010 18:59 Edited at: 16th Oct 2010 18:59
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If I lost all my books I would probably buy the following again.

The C Programming Language
Programming Ruby
Metaprogramming Ruby
Inside Relational Databases
Smalltalk, Objects, and Design

By way of demonstration, he emitted a batlike squeak that was indeed bothersome.
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 16th Oct 2010 19:32
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i dont remember which books i have that i value but off the top of my head i have a book of Star wars concept art and a guide to star wars vehicles (the old star wars). I was a big star wars fan back in the day. When i moved from US to Russia i couldnt take much stuff with me but i took these 2 books along with my morrowind strategy guide.

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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RalphY
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Posted: 16th Oct 2010 21:39
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That I can think of right now:
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Engineering Mathematics
Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications (The book which got me through my first year at uni)
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
Programming Language Processors in Java: Compilers and Interpreters

I also have a lot of books which I'm sure will make it onto this list once I finally get round to reading them.

I'm looking for a really good reference book on applied mechanics too if anyone knows of one.

Go banana! | Super Nintendo Chalmers! | When I grow up I'm going to Bovine University!
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CocaCola
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Posted: 16th Oct 2010 22:02
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i hate book. book is stupid.

no, I dont read much, though im considering getting a c++ one.

I want coke, not Pepsi!
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Jeku
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Posted: 18th Oct 2010 08:36
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I like the idea of the How Not to Program book... I might just pick it up myself. Lately most of my new books are about North Korea because I'm a DPRK geek


Senior Web Developer - Nokia
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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 21st Oct 2010 12:27
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wow, ralphY, those two books "Engineering Mathematics" and "Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications" look incredibly useful.

I think I'm going to set aside two hours a day for book studying (not including schoolwork/reading for school).

Right now I have a list of books to read through/work through/study within the next couple years...

Complex Analysis - Lars V. Ahlfors
How Not to Program in C++ - Steve Oualline
The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles - Noam Nisan
Hacker's Delight - Henry S. Warren
Engineering Mathematics - K. A. Stroud
Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications - Kenneth Rosen
The Fractal Geometry of Nature - Benoit B. Mandelbrot

at two hours a day... those should keep me busy for a couple years



@Jeku:
Yeah, that How Not to Program book is really cool. It contains pretty much every error or bug that you've created due to a typo or lack of understanding of a topic.

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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 29th Oct 2010 10:44 Edited at: 29th Oct 2010 10:45
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I just got "Hacker's Delight"... I'm still stumped by the cover.

Pn denoted the nth prime number. The whole floor(cos^2(pi*blah)) thing is actually just a tricky math way of saying if blah is fractional, return 0, else return 1. The rest is just tricky math >.>

After reading the first bits of the book, my head hurts a bit... but I'm starting to think in binary pretty easily.

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wind27382
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Posted: 3rd Nov 2010 13:46
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virtual beauties
deconstructing the elements in 3d studio max 6
the making of final fantasy the spirits within
halo creating a virtual world.

wind
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IanM
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Posted: 3rd Nov 2010 16:11
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I've noticed that everyone is pretty much posting technical books, so I've decided to break the chain.

Stranger in a strange land - R A Heinlein

Utility plug-ins (26-JUL-2010)
I'm applying terms of use that require you to wear a red nose and honk a horn whenever you use the Internet
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bitJericho
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 00:09
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Quote: "I've noticed that everyone is pretty much posting technical books, so I've decided to break the chain.

Stranger in a strange land - R A Heinlein"


Nice! Though I would have to go with Time Enough for Live by Heinlein. Though anything by him is going to be good

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Phaelax
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 04:15
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Quote: "I've noticed that everyone is pretty much posting technical books, so I've decided to break the chain."


Beat me to it, I was going to post this: The Book of Knowledge
It covers several different topics from mathematics to medical to renaissance art. Couldn't seem to find it online. It has a boring looking brown cover and roughly 50 years old. It's how I learned about Raphael when I was kid and kicked major butt on Jeopardy(at home on tv) during a Renaissance category.

As for technical books:

- Calculus & Analytical Geometry (50 cents at Goodwill!)
- Oracle9i: SQL (old school textbook)
- Data Structures and the Java Collections Framework (i have about 10 java books on various subjects)
- Playboy Nov. '72 edition (hey i like the articles!)

Since I don't have the Internet at home, I have several rows on my bookcase of Java and Web-related books that are invaluable to me.


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
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Master Man Of Justice
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 04:17
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Lol, Phaelax, i see that youtube url.
UCANTFUULMEE

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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 04:23
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xD rofl. but... since when was playboy a technical book?

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Master Man Of Justice
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 04:28
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meh, its where most young guys in america learn the words, Double, Quadruple, and ,,, well, other various words that can be used in a non induendo'ish ways but we all really know what they are thinking.


Ive said too much lol.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 04:34
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Quote: "since when was playboy a technical book?"

Guess it depends on that month's articles. (serves anyone right for clicking on it!)


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
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Venge
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Posted: 5th Nov 2010 06:05
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How to Practice.

A book that tells you how to find true happiness. Dunno what else I'd call "Valued".
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